Yankees and Indians Discussed Burnett for Hafner

Bryan Hoch, who follows the Yankees for MLB.com reports that one of the reportedly four teams in discussion with the Yankees to trade for AJ Burnett was the Indians, who considered moving DH Travis Hafner for the Yankee pitcher.  The report also includes that the Indians have backed out, making it mostly a non-story.  In a previous post I noted that the Indians could be very eager to move “Pronk”, but the presumption was based on the notion that they would do so to dump the bulk of his remaining salary.  My thinking was that sending Hafner and some cash to the Yankees for Hughes could save the Indians around $8mil over 2011 and 2012 while adding the services of Phil Hughes in his walk year.

This seemed like a mutually beneficial exchange.  Hafner would provide more offensive production than any of the remaining free agents while becoming a similar addition to team payroll to Johnny Damon and possibly Hideki Matsui, while Cleveland has been very cost-conscious in recent years, Hafner is quite overpriced for a DH who is ineffective against left-handed pitching and SP Fausto Carmona’s status is in limbo due to legal troubles in the Dominican Republic.

While it’s interesting to get some confirmation that Cleveland is open to moving Hafner, my hopes for seeing him become the Yankees’ left-handed DH in 2012 seemed dashed when it was reported that they were looking to fill the role for under $2mil.  So it looks like unless the Yankees would consider moving Hughes or prospects after a Burnett Deal is done, it won’t be Pronk.

Also Buster Olney tweets that the Yankees “have serious interest” in Cuban defector Jorge Soler, who was rumored to be nearing a deal with the Cubs last night.