The Yankees returned to their Evil Empire spending by locking up Masahiro Tanaka to wrap up an expensive off-season of acquisitions.
Shortstop Derek Jeter will probably retire after the 2014 season. As such, NY media reports that the Yankees are kicking the tires on free agent Stephen Drew.
Drew, 30, has played 8 seasons. His career stats: 90 HR, 416 RBI,.264 BA, 16.1 WAR (3.1 WAR last year with Red Sox). For his average career, he is 2.01 WAR which is a starter.
I always felt that once Jeter retired, the Cubs could offer Starlin Castro to the Yankees. Castro, after 4 seasons, has hit 37 HR, 229 RBI, .283 BA and 7.4 WAR (last year negative 0.6). For his average career, he is a 1.85 WAR, which is pretty similar to Drew.
Castro is only 23 and has much more upside than Drew. Drew has experience which blends well with a veteran team. However, Castro could get a good recommendation from his buddy, Alfonso Soriano.
Trading Castro next year would open the shortstop position to Javier Baez. The front office claims that Baez is still going to be playing short at Iowa this year. So if not the Yankees, Castro could be traded to another team in need of a starting shortstop.
