And I'm hoping that the New York Yankees are setting up a package for Upton. Other teams are willing to talk to Arizona, like the Seattle Mariners who may have more prospects, or pieces to offer instead of New York. Although, Yankees could take Jason Kubel off the hands of Arizona, with Upton. Something that Yankees have the luxury of doing and other teams don't.
We all know why Yankees need Upton. But why would the Yankees need Kubel? Here's why -- Kubel can replace the left-handed power of Raul Ibanez from last season. Kubel has that perfect right-field porch swing, that he can turn on any pitch and hit out of the ballpark. He's got a lot of power; very underrated power, too.
Remember when Kubel hit that grand slam homerun off Mariano Rivera in 2010, as a Minnesota Twin...that was a clutch homerrun off a hall of famer.
Kubel can easily fit into that pinch-hit/DH/fourth outfield role with the Yankees, like Ibanez was.
Now, if the Yankees did acquire Upton and Kubel, where would Kubel play in the outfield, with Curtis Granderson and Ichiro Suzuki as starting outfielders. Well, Yankees can do two things. One -- they can trade Granderson to Arizona. Or -- two -- they can trade Granderson and Brett Gardner to Arizona, making Kubel an everyday outfielder.
If the Yankees aren't going to resign Granderson next offseason, they might as well trade him now. Yankees need Upton now, more than they need Granderson for one season. Upton can be a core for the Yankees, in the future.
Obviously, Upton and Kubel are going to cost the Yankees more than just Grandy. So I would offer Granderson, Gardner, Gary Sanchez or Mason Williams and Phil Hughes.
