Rumor: Yankees Moving Unit

Great, now I’m going to have to send Brian Cashman and the Yankees a thank you note for the yule log they’ve just tossed into the Hot Stove. Reports are once again swirling that Yankee starter, Randy Johnson will soon be traded. The list of suitors is as long as Johnson is tall, and reportedly includes the Giants, Padres, Diamondbacks, both LA teams, and the Seattle Mariners. Johnson lives in Arizona and spent several years with the Diamondbacks before becoming a Yankee, however Arizona’s East Valley Tribune stated that "The D-Backs’ offer, believed to include a package of young pitchers, is “significantly behind” an offer from San Diego. However, the Big Unit does possess a full no-trade clause so any potential deal, no matter how lucrative it would be for the Yankees, must first receive Johnson’s approval.

If the Yankees do succeed in dealing away the future hall-of-famer, the repercussions will be sweeping in scope. Barry Zito’s agent, Scott Boras, will immediately begin to play the two free spending New York teams against each other for his client’s services. The Texas Rangers have told Boras that they’d like an answer on their offer to Zito by this weekend but with the deep pockets of the Yankees overshadowing the entire process, that seems unlikely at best. Boras might be despised by many GM’s, but he’s no idiot. The fact that the Yankees entering the picture would increase his client’s value by millions is not likely to go unnoticed by the game’s top agent.