Yankees Aren’t Working Any Jelly With the Alfonso Soriano Trade

The Yankees are dealing in a far different trade market with the implementation of the extra Wild Card.

More teams feel like they have a chance to make the postseason with a new slot added to the tournament, which means the willingness to part with overpaid players, that can come up big in the postseason, isn’t quite the same. There’s a chance it might be worth the cost of doing business.

To find a trading partner with a player worth the Yankees’ time, they had to look at the cellar dwellers, and there was Alfonso Soriano withering away into obscurity with the habitually terrible Chicago Cubs.

This would obviously be a reunion for the Yankees and Soriano, which is interesting because the team is trying to channel its traditional midseason trade success.

Trading for David Justice from the Indians in 2000 and Bobby Abreu from the Phillies in 2006 were two of the best midseason moves in the last 20 years. Justice hit 20 home runs in just 78 games to help lead the Yanks to their third straight World Series title and fourth in five seasons.

Abreu was brought over for four minor league prospects, which was obviously a move by the Phillies to dump the bulk of the $29 million owed to him over the next two seasons.

Here’s a similar situation with Soriano; the only the difference is that the Yankees haven’t been this desperate for right-handed power in, well, ever.

It’s hard to miss the irony in the Yankees trading for the guy that brought them Alex Rodriguez in 2004, and all because they’re so helpless in the area where A-Rod was supposed to do his damage.

No one really knows at this point, but A-Rod might not ever play Major League Baseball again if the league really gets their hooks into him on this Biogenesis scandal.

There are reports that Derek Jeter could be back in the Yankees lineup on Saturday, but as we’ve seen with these geezers, homie could be back on the disabled list about as quickly as he can move.

No doubt they have voids to fill in NYC.

Soriano still has something left in the tank, so it can turn out to be a really good move. But for right now, it’s sink or swim in the AL East, and Yankees don’t want to keep kicking and screaming in the pool. 

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