Looking At The Yankee Trade Chips

(Will this guy still be a Yankee after this week?  Courtesy of Getty Images)

The Winter Meetings start this week, and while I still believe the Yankees are entering them in a position of weakness and don't have a lot of faith that they are going to pull off a deal, this is their best chance to make a splash and start filling the holes left in their lineup.  To come away from these meetings without an answer in right field or behind the plate would make for a very stressful remainder of the offseason and most likely lead to those positions being filled by subpar players.  And with the Yankees' refusal to get really involved in the free agent market, their best bet at getting an impact player in those positions of need will be through a trade.  Cash has made some good ones before, and some bad ones, and always seems to use the meetings to line something up.  If that's the route he's going to take this year, he's got plenty of potential trade chips at his disposal.

How Will Losing Russell Martin Change The Yanks' Winter Meetings Plans?

(Congratulations, Hal.  You've successfully handcuffed your GM before the most important part of the offseason)

The Winter Meetings were already going to be a little different for the Yankees this year than in years past. With their plans to get below the self-imposed payroll ceiling becoming more real, and their early offseason actions being more strongly geared towards that one goal than ever, the days of the big, bad Yankees breezing into Nashville and stirring things up with their rumored connections to all the big names appear to be over, at least for the next couple offseasons. But with last night’s bombshell of Russell Martin signing with the Pirates, the entire landscape of the remainder of this offseason has shifted dramatically for the Yanks. While they did make very good progress in reloading the pitching staff, there are still a lot of gaping holes in the lineup and fewer quality players with which to plug them. I think the Yankees always anticipated that they’d be able to re-sign Martin, and now Cash will have to adjust his whole approach to next week’s meetings to cover for the loss.