Yankee Fans Unite

so whats the story behind this trade?

Nady goes down, they trade for a guy to be a back up outfielder and a bat off the bench.

Pluses: can hit for power, back up A-Rod at 3B (giving him his one day or more per week), Teixeira at 1B, and play RF (maybe LF too).

Negatives: upset at playing time with Pirates. He's not going to automatically get a lot with the Yankees unless he gets hot. He's never really been a high average hitter.

On the plus side, he's the only player to appear in the last two World Series. Duh, that's why they got him!

He hasn't gotten much playing time with anyone since he left the Jays, but the Yankees are a little bit of an upgrade from the Pirates.

Here's another negative that I meant to include, but didn't.

He's a left handed bat. Yeah, that's not all that much of a negative, except that the Yankees already have a lot of those. They need a right-handed power threat off the bench.

I thought the same thing about being left-handed, Rob; the Yankees could definitely use a righty bat off the bench, but they're pretty much set from the left side.

But then lefties have an advantage in Yankee Stadium, so maybe they were looking at it that way.

I don't think it's a terrible trade, but I always think it's a bit odd to fill gaps on a team with mediocre veteran part-timers via trade. Wouldn't it have been a lot easier to just call up Shelley Duncan?

Easier to call Dunc? Yes, but he has such a gaping hole in his swing that he would be of minimal value. Hinske is a good addition, used sparingly