Impact Trade!

There is a very interesting three way trade being mentioned involving the Yankees, Braves and Pirates. The Yankees are hot for this lefty closer, Mike Gonzales from the Pirates and are trying to negotiate a deal that would send Melky Cabrera to Atlanta, so Atlanta could in turn send Adam LaRoche to Pittsburgh which in turn would make Pittsburgh open to dealing Mike Gonzales.

Now multi-team trades are fascinating, but the more parties involved, the greater chance one team could muck it up. So I'd like to propose an alternative to the Yankees that would require only one team to deal with, the Yankee wanna be Chicago Cubs.

The proposal would be as such. The second city NL ball club will let you cherry pick any reliever from their stable of 8 in exchange for Melky Cabrera.

For those of you interested, Melky Cabrera is a left handed throwing version of Matt Murton, except he's a switch hitter and has superior defensive skills.

Melky Cabrera 2006
Hitting 460AB 262B 7HR 56BB 59K 12SB 280BA 360OBP
Fielding 116 Games 12 Assists 1 Error 996 Fielding Percentage

Cabrera is only 21 and has also started 10 games in CF without an error.

The Cubs can make a deal to get a young promising player by dealing from one of the only positions of strength they have, the bullpen. The Yankees get a choice of a right or left handed reliever with no third team to deal with and all is right with the world.

For those of you who say that Cabrera might block Murton or Pie, I say, who gives a shit. Cabrera is the same age as Pie and he already has shown his stuff on the biggest stage in baseball. Are there any guarantees Pie will ever be the stud we think he'll be? It's a no brainer to pick up Cabrera, if the Yankees are willing. The Cubs have more arms in their bullpen than the need, period. Since Pittsburgh's Gonzales is a LHRP, the Yankees might only be interested in the Cubs three LHRP's Ohman, Eyre or Cotts anyway. Not a bad trade for both sides.

Hendry has shown he can spend the money and has in the past pulled off a couple of good trades. Let's hope he's forward thinking enough to jump in the middle of this three way trade and offer the Yankees a clean and simple alternative.