Ken Rosenthal has a long article today regarding possible scenarios by which Mark Teixeira becomes a Yankee. Rosenthal says the Yankees scouted the Rangers last week in regards to Eric Gagne and Akinori Otsuka. The Rangers expect Brian Cashman to have interest in Teixeira, and have been performing due diligence on Phil Hughes and other Yankee farmhands.
Rosenthal’s main point: Hughes is not untouchable, but Teixeira could be traded to the Yankees without him involved. Maybe Jon Daniels surrenders two of his major trading chips in a single blockbuster, giving up Otsuka or Gagne plus Teixeira just to get Hughes. One would be hard-pressed to say that deal does not make the Yankees significantly better in 2007.
If Daniels is going to earn that contract extension, he needs to get another big-market team seriously involved. It would be fantastic to get Boston seriously engaged. The Tigers are another option. But if Daniels comes up with quantity over quality – for example the Rosenthal proposal of Melky Cabrera, Chase Wright, and another prospect – he will have failed.
