Zell's Pinstriped Blog, A New York Yankees Fan Blog

Update: 2:45PM ET: The Yankees have completed a three-team trade that gives them center fielder Curtis Granderson, pending a review of medical records, according to a source.

From the Yankees Official Website: 

INDIANAPOLIS — The D-Backs, Tigers and Yankees reportedly agreed in principle Tuesday on a deal that would send Tigers center fielder Curtis Granderson to New York in the first major deal of this year’s Winter Meetings. In the seven-player trade, SI.com’s John Heyman reported that the D-Backs would receive right-handers Edwin Jackson and Ian Kennedy from the Tigers and Yankees, respectively, while the Tigers would get pitchers Max Scherzer and Daniel Schlereth from Arizona and outfielder Austin Jackson and left-hander Phil Coke from New York. A source said that the Yankees were piqued by the idea of installing the left-handed-hitting Granderson into center field at Yankee Stadium, where his power bat could play nicely with the short porch and help reconstruct their lineup for a defense of their World Series title. The D-backs entered the Winter Meetings searching for a starter to slot behind Brandon Webb, Dan Haren and Scherzer in the rotation and about $10 million to spend. Their plan seemed to call for them to spend the bulk of that money either on a free-agent pitcher or taking part of a large pitcher’s contract off another team’s hands via trade. If the deal is indeed structured as believed, it would allow the D-backs to spend their remaining dollars on shoring up the bullpen and bolstering their offense, which has underperformed the past few seasons. Kennedy missed much of last season after having surgery to repair an aneurysm under his right armpit on May 12. He pitched in four Minor League games for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre last year and tossed a scoreless inning in his one appearance for the Yankees. The right-hander pitched well in the Arizona Fall League and the D-backs appear to have favorable reports on him.  

Rob’s Take:

Now the Yankees finally have dynamic centerfielder that they have not had since Bernie Williams — to a certain degree. The good part for the Yankees is they did not have to part with a player named Hughes or Dunn. Also, Granderson is owed $5.5 million in 2010, $8.5 million in 2011, $10 million in 2012 and $13 million in 2013 OR a $2 million buyout.

Giving up Ian Kennedy wasn’t a bad move, he would have been a marginal relief pitcher as there likely would have not been any room in the rotation for him. Losing Phil Coke is not much of a hit either as the Yankees refused (THANK YOU) to trade Mike Dunn, a power lefty in AAA. The impact of the loss of Austin Jackson is not yet known and likely we will not know for another year or so.

Dave Cameron at FanGraphs calls the deal “almost too good to be true” for the Yanks, however I slightly disagree with him.

Granderson has power, has speed, is an above average fielder, but he cannot for the life of him hit left handed pitchers. Since 2006, he has had strikeout totals of 174, 141 (happened twice) and 111. While I can put up with that with Swisher who walks almost 100 times per year, I don’t think I can put up with that with Granderson who doesn’t walk nearly as much.

However, I will give him a chance as he will be turning 29 in March and does give the Yankees 3-4 guaranteed years as well as leverage in possible talks with Johnny Damon. This also means that Melky Cabrera could be expendable as well, with possible suitors being the Cubs.

Overall, with people stating this is a great trade, I am going to approach with caution. This is a good trade for the Yankees with the potential to be great as long as Granderson lowers his K count and hits lefties better than he did last year.

With this trade completed, one has to wonder if the Yankees will move forward with a possible Roy Halladay deal or signing of John Lackey (or any other free agent starter not named Andy Pettitte). Now one would think that any deal for Halladay has to involve Jesus Montero since Austin Jackson has been dealt. There is still one day left to the Winter Meetings, I guess we’ll see, won’t we?

from Chad Jennings: 

As of 2:10 p.m., multiple outlets are reporting that the deal is done. Diamondbacks manager A.J. Hinch is currently addressing the media and started the session by saying he can’t comment on any potential deal. “We are doing everything we can to make our team better,” he said. 

Literally two minutes ago I got a text message from Austin Jackson that said simply, “No, I haven’t heard anything.”