Yankees acquire Xavier Nady and Damaso Marte

[nykgeneralmanager]

Right handed OF wasn't a big need, a solid lefty out of the pen wasn't a need?

We gave up Tabata, who hasn't shown much, ohlendorf a guy who sucked for us this year and too unknown pitchers. Big deal.

Steal IMO.

ESPN reported that teams are griping about this deal, saying the yankees gave up way to little to get two quality players like nady and marte.. LOL... No top prospect arms moved at all..

wow....

A lot of GMs and scouts have soured on Tabata A LOT in the past year due to the combination of no power, injuries, and discipline issues. And with the Yankees' ridiculous depth of quality arms, teams are mad that the Yanks didn't have to give up any of them in the trade. Plus we got to keep our top prospects in Jackson and Montero.

[TKF]

Right handed OF wasn't a big need, a solid lefty out of the pen wasn't a need?

We gave up Tabata, who hasn't shown much, ohlendorf a guy who sucked for us this year and too unknown pitchers. Big deal.

Steal IMO.

ESPN reported that teams are griping about this deal, saying the yankees gave up way to little to get two quality players like nady and marte.. LOL... No top prospect arms moved at all..

wow....

A lot of GMs and scouts have soured on Tabata A LOT in the past year due to the combination of no power, injuries, and discipline issues. And with the Yankees' ridiculous depth of quality arms, teams are mad that the Yanks didn't have to give up any of them in the trade. Plus we got to keep our top prospects in Jackson and Montero.

good point... question, who is a better prospect, Austin Jackson or Tabata?

[bishnykfan]

Seems like a pretty good deal IMO. I'm not in love with Nady, but he is an obvious upgrade over Gardner/Christian. And I love Marte, I felt he was the best reliever on the market by far.

Outside of Tabata, it doesn't seem like we gave up all that much. Ohlendorf is extremely replaceable (he already has been this year by Robertson and Ramirez). This seems to me to be a great trade for this year and a good deal depending on Tabata.

Our team seems to be coming together. With Sexson and now Nady we should be better against lefties. I would guess our new lineup would be:

Damon LH
Jeter RH
Abreu LH
ARod RH
Giambi LH
Cano LH
Nady RH
Molina RH
Cabrera SH

Or you could swith Cano and Nady to stagger the lineup. Looks pretty good!

Also we may still get a starter like Washburn for Igawa. Cashman did a great job so far and still has five days to go.

[meatball sub]

Was surprised we gave up on Tabata, but this is a pretty damn solid trade. People might say Nady is just a scrub, but he's having a career year in Pittsburgh of all places. He does hit behind Jason Bay, but is followed by Adam LaRoche! Hitting behind Giambi and in front of Cano (possibly?) should make him pretty dangerous, IMO. Despite what some may believe, a lefty out of the pen is a need...we don't have any. Marte has been one of the top bullpen lefties in baseball this year, and isn't just a lefty specialist. He's actually better against righties this season, FWIW.

[Pharmcat]

Right handed OF wasn't a big need, a solid lefty out of the pen wasn't a need?

We gave up Tabata, who hasn't shown much, ohlendorf a guy who sucked for us this year and too unknown pitchers. Big deal.

Steal IMO.

when ponson gets hammered on sun, we will k now our biggest need

[nykgeneralmanager]

good point... question, who is a better prospect, Austin Jackson or Tabata?

The better prospect is Jackson at this point, hands down. He is our best prospect while Tabata was becoming a borderline top 10 prospect in our system in some people's minds. On rotoworld's midseason rankings, Jackson was 14th and Tabata 70th.

It is amazing how in the past year it all clicked for Jackson and he went from hype to production, while Tabata is still currently in the hype phase (although a year and a half younger than Jackson). Jackson also plays a more premium position in CF, and plays it a lot better than Tabata plays RF. Jackson is basically the entire package, I don't know what downside there is to his game other than the fact that he doesn't blow you away with power. But with what he is capable of, 20 homers would be sufficient when you combine it with 30+ doubles, 20+ steals, 5+ triples, a good eye, and excellent defense.

[Pharmcat]

hey nykgm, u need a new sig

the one dude got traded
the other has flopped so far

[nykgeneralmanager]

Its one of the first things that ran through my mind

Not making me look good at all

[Pharmcat]

well as much as i have pounded him, i think we all know that phil has a good chance of working out for us in the end

[Jitpal]

I like the trade. Kontos and Coke aren't a loss at all. We have plenty of those guys and they were probably just blocking the way from some of our better players from A Ball. Ohledorf doesn't hurt either especially because Marte replaces him in the short term and we have young guys like Veras, Edwar, and Robertson stepping up now. Cox, Melancon, and Sanchez ready to step in next year and beyond. So that leaves Tabata, if he pans out to his full potential then this obviously wouldn't be a steal or anything. However, Tabata isn't developing like many expected and his attitude problems probably put some serious doubt as to whether he would develop into a quality OFer.

Nady is a solid outfielder, can play a little 1B and has some pop. I think he can really balance out the lineup and extend it. He will probably be cheap next year as well so we don't have to wonder how the OF will shake out next year. Plus, if we do get some good OFers then he can slide into 1B. Marte is huge for this team. We have a left handed reliever, and one of the best ones in the majors at that. He can setup for Mo because he is better than Farnsworth.

I think there are two parts of this deal that no one seems to be discussing. First is, if Marte doesn't work out we can let him walk for two draft picks after this year then Nady the year after. The other factor is the Rays were after Nady and the Red Sox were after Marte. We block both of the teams ahead of us. We make things just a little more expensive for them and in the case of the Red Sox it is highly unlikely they can get Sherill because I don't see the Orioles trading within the division. -Jitpal

[jeff1624]

I know we have no 4th and 5th starter. But to rag on this deal because of it is kinda silly.

We basically traded 1 good prospects and 3 other no names for 2 of the biggest players on the trading market. Before this deal people were complaining that the pirates were asking for too much for there players yet we practically stole them away. Also prevented the Rays from acquiring them, another plus IMO.

Once we deal for washburn(without giving them Melky and Gardner of course) we'll be set.

[Jerryd Bayless]

it doesnt address our biggest need of SP, it reinforces our O (which if getting better) and our pen (which is great).....so we give up one of our better prospects (yea he had a down year but still) and at the same time dont fill in our biggest need...i wouldve been ok if he was included in a trade to get a SP....but this trade was unncessary

SP's are so pricey nowadays (ex: Carlos Silva). If you want another example, it comes from the same awful organization, the M's. They are asking for Melky and Gardner for Washburn. You seriously want that?


About the deal: It's great

Corner outfielders are not a rare product of the MLB. They are not hard to find. We have aquired Abreu and now Nady the past 3 years. Solid corner outfielders you say, huh? Now unless Tabata turns out to be like a Manny that's a different story.... the point though is we didn't really lose anything that will affect us in the longrun.

Just what a trade man, gosh!

Nady's away splits are outstanding. .354 away from home with 23 XBH's and 7 HR's
He also has arguably the some of the best range in all of baseball.

Also --- i've always wanted the Yankees to pick up one of those gritty players. X is gritty. That's what we need, more passion. Well we got some more of that now.

I didn't even mention Marte yet who was the best left handed reliever on the market. I heard the Bucs were asking for blue chips alone for him. P.S:: Marte looked thrilled to be traded here


All in all, great day for Yankee fans and Yankee baseball!

[PR07]

I like this trade. Hearing what Olney said about other GM's being miffed about it only strengthened this feeling. Xavier Nady is not a star, but I think he's that an excellent role player. What the 90's Yankees showed us is that it helps to have a few gritty role players. Not every one of our player needs to be a star. He gives us a right-handed bat to balance out the lineup and enables Damon to stay at DH. It also allows us to let Abreu walk at the end of the year, so what we lost in prospects today, we might gain right back and more based on draft compensation.

Marte is one of the best left-handed bullpen arms in the MLB. Did we absolutely need a lefty? Probably not, but what was already a great bullpen, just got a lot better. I think it takes a lot of pressure off of Rivera and Farnsworth because this guy isn't just a left handed specialist. He's an exceptional set-up and even occasional closer.

[tjm384]

No problem with that trade at all..the only question is do the Yankees re-sign Nady in the offseason?
Xavier Nady Outfielder 2008: $3.35 million, 2009: Arb. Eligible, 2010: Free Agent

[Da Schwab]

I'm happy about who they got back in this deal, but I was a bit surprised they gave up Tabata as part of it. Still, I don't feel bad about the deal at all, being as all I really ever knew about Tabata was from whatever NYK GM posted about him.

IMHO, I think the Yanks may have the best bullpen in baseball right now, with the addition of Marte.

[rappa]

This is an absolute steal of a trade and for these reasons..

1. We block our rivals from getting Marte, especially the Red Sox who were hot after him and now will have to probably pony up some big prospects in order to fulfill their biggest need, which is bullpen. With Delcarmen going down last night, they are going to make a move and we all know other teams are going to ask high as they are desperate.

2. Xavier Nady is a gritty player. Reminds me a whole lot of Paul O'Neill. I used to watch him play for the mets all the time and he was a personal favorite. As most of you can remember, the dynasty we didn't have superstars, we had very good gritty players that gave it their all. Xavier will do this and he's a righty.

3. The only significant prospect we gave up was Jose Tabata. Just a few months ago, this kid was about to ask for his release because he couldn't hack it. Does he have talent? Yes but he has yet to show any type of power since hitting the states and is going to still take a few years to even make it, if he even does. How many times were there young stud prospects who flamed out? COUNTLESS.

4. Ohlendorf, Kontos, and Coke are B-level prospects. To get a top lefthanded reliever whos cost controlled till after next season and a good, not great right handed hitter for this kind of package is just amazing. When I first saw the trade, I figured we were giving up more then one A-level prospect but was delighted to see that we didn't get fleeced. One thing people also must realize is none of these guys would be starters for the yankees. All would be bullpen arms and we have tons of them who are all higher regarded (Melancon, Cox, Sanchez, etc)

5. When we were a dynasty, our biggest strength was our bullpen. I don't care what anyone says but when we had nelson, stanton, mendoza, wetteland, rivera, the games were pretty much over after the 6th. Adding Marte to our already very very good bullpen just makes it so much stronger. Depth is a huge key to having a good bullpen and now we have it with Ramirez, Robertson, Veras, Rivera, and as of late Farnsworth. Add Marte to that list and it becomes very good.

6. Our team is playing very good lately and adding these players will just build some more momentum. It was the perfect time to make a trade and the yankees should reap the benefits instantly. We get killed by lefties and now we can use gardner as a pinch hitter-runner/4th Ofer instead of an everyday player which I don't feel he is. On that note, I got one more thing to say.

Lets Go Yankees!

[VinnyTheMick]

Love the trade but I don't like this stat

Damaso Marte has a 1.37 ERA at home and a 6.20 ERA on the road.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/powerranking

[Jitpal]

Whoa whoa. Let's cool it before jumping on the "steal" bandwagon. According to Joel Sherman and Sweeny Murti we did not trade Kontos and Coke but instead Karstens and McCutchen.

The package the Yankees surrendered for Xavier Nady and Damaso Marte is not as originally reported. It is fronted by outfielder Jose Tabata and pitcher Ross Ohlendorf, but the other two pitchers the Yanks gave up in the trade were Jeff Karstens and Daniel McCutchen.

I don't like giving up McCutchen. Although it would make the trade more fair. I wonder if the backlash by the public has anything to do with this. The trade wasn't complete, maybe Huntington told Cashman to up the offer or he would intentionally fail Tabata or someone. Or maybe someone did fail the physical. Or Possibly, Kontos and Coke are going in another deal. Very interesting turn of events if true. -Jitpal

[TKF]

good point... question, who is a better prospect, Austin Jackson or Tabata?

The better prospect is Jackson at this point, hands down. He is our best prospect while Tabata was becoming a borderline top 10 prospect in our system in some people's minds. On rotoworld's midseason rankings, Jackson was 14th and Tabata 70th.

It is amazing how in the past year it all clicked for Jackson and he went from hype to production, while Tabata is still currently in the hype phase (although a year and a half younger than Jackson). Jackson also plays a more premium position in CF, and plays it a lot better than Tabata plays RF. Jackson is basically the entire package, I don't know what downside there is to his game other than the fact that he doesn't blow you away with power. But with what he is capable of, 20 homers would be sufficient when you combine it with 30+ doubles, 20+ steals, 5+ triples, a good eye, and excellent defense.

thanks for the info.....

[HCYanks]

Now I like this even less--McCutchen isn't that much more of a prospect than Kontos but he was closer to the bigs and i'd like to keep these back-end starters around, ideally. It's still not a devastating move, but think about where it really puts the Yankees:

-The whole selling point on Marte is that he's a lefty. Lefties are a nice luxury to have around for matchups and everything, but it isn't a need when you have plenty of effective relievers who can get lefty hitters out. I really hope they didn't trade for Marte under the "get David Ortiz out" justification; the Mike Myers era proved how stupid that was.

-Nady comes in and improves the lineup by keeping Gardner and Melky from starting at the same time. Beyond that, he's not much. Don't let this year's numbers fool you, for a team with this many resources, he shouldn't be more than a fourth outfielder/platoon starter long-term. Once his batting average comes back to Earth, he's going to look awfully unspectacular. If they wanted someone like this, they probably could have done a deal that didn't involve Tabata. .760-.800 OPS outfielders aren't hard to find.