Three-team trade in the works?
UPDATE (4:50PM)
The below rumors actually make some degree of sense, in combination with Joel Sherman’s ealier tweet:
“To get Gio from #A‘s, #Yankees probably would have do 3-way deal because Oak wants hi-end young OFs and NYY has none at Double-A or higher.”
Brett Gardner is a high-end, young outfielder, and is more than MLB-ready (which is what Billy Beane is supposedly looking for).
ORIGINAL
As I said last time regarding rumors from Mike Silva’s New York Baseball Digest– don’t put too much weight in them, as I don’t know how reliable/unreliable they are. However, one of their writers said he has heard from a source about a possible 3-team trade in the works that would land Gio Gonzalez on the Yankees.
A source down at the Winter Meetings informed me of a 3-way deal being discussed between the Yankees, Oakland, and Kansas City. The players discussed were:
Yankees get: Gio Gonzalez
A’s get: LF Brett Gardner from Yanks, 1B Clint Robinson from Royals.
Royals get: RHP David Phelps, OF Michael Taylor, and a PTBNL from Yanks that is expected to be off 40-man roster.
He also notes that the Yankees have been said to be the front-runners for Cespedes, who they would absolutely pursue if they traded Gardner. Make what you want of the above rumors, as I’m unsure of their reliability.
On a another note, Bob Klapisch says the Yankees have spoken to the Athletics about the left-hander, but a deal would only happen in an “overpay” situation.