No Thanks
I have seen a number of rumors about the Yankees and their quest to find a third baseman and most of the names scare me, but none more so than Bobby Crosby.
Last season Crosby played his first healthy season since 2004 and put up a line of .237/.296/.349. And, he is due $5.25 million in 2009. I would much rather take a shot with Cody Ransom than sign up for that salary.
I am also very down on the idea of Mark Teahan, who is a better hitter and cheaper than Crosby, but still a huge question mark. Teahan had a great 2005 and his bat has never come close to that since. In addition, he has lost speed and his fielding, especially at third, has regressed.
Neither one of these solutions adds anything more than Ransom in my mind and they cost more. Ideally, the Yankees could take one of their young pitchers and trade him to another team for a young hitter. Somone who could play the entire left side of the infield would be great since expecting Jeter to play 150 games this season is a risk. I don't think they would trade him, but Martin Prado of the Braves is the type of player that would be perfect. He can play all over the infield and hit.
The thing is, the Yankees can afford to be patient right now. As March progresses teams will shake out their 25-man rosters and players who are out of options will have to be traded or released. Not that he has shown much in the bigs, but Andy Marte was once a top prospect and he would be worth a look if Cleveland tried to send him to the minors. There will be choices out there and while the Yankees shouldn't jump at many of them, I do hope they are keeping their eyes peeled.
