New York Yankees

There certainly were conflicting theories about Brett Gardner as we headed into 2010.  Some people thought he could mature into an everyday player for the Yankees, including being a tremendous source of stolen bases.  Others thought that he would be exposed by major league pitching with regular playing time.  Thus far, those who b

Robinson Cano doesn’t get the publicity of Yankee teammates Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter, and Mark Teixeira, but he is having the best season of any Yankee position player in 2010.

He is currently leading the majors in hitting with a .376 average and is fourth in the majors in runs batted in with 46 with only Miguel Cabrera, Vladimir Guerrero, and Evan Longoria ahead of him.

In the hours following Stephen Strasburg's Brendan-Fraser-in-The-Scout -level debut for the Nationals on Tuesday, my buddy Howie posed this question to me (@danhanzus ) via Twitter:

Most trade value: Mauer, Hanley, Pujols or Strasburg? I say #Strasburg easy.

The New York Yankees are playing great right now, thanks to their stellar pitching and slugging offense.

Yet they are still two games out of first, behind the Rays who own the best record in the Majors heading into tonight, and appear to be the real deal.

Now there is no reason for concern right now with the majority of the season yet to be played and the Yankees leading the Wild Card standings.

But problems could be on the horizon for the Yanks very soon.

This morning, I passed along a rumor that the NY Post reported today.  According to the Post, the Mariners were scouting Yankee minor leaguers in anticipation of dealing LHP Cliff Lee to the Bronx.

I wrote this story reluctantly because the Yankees boast a full five-man rotation. They  really don't need another starter.

From George A. King III :

The Mariners are scouting the Yankees’ organization thoroughly.

They had two scouts recently in Charleston (Single-A). Last night they had two scouts watching Trenton play Reading, one of whom was former Yankees minor league coach Bill Masse.

They are slated to have at least one scout check on SWB shortly.

Don't expect the New York Yankees to publicly admit to wanting both or either of these players.

According to MLBTradeRumors.com, George A. King III of the New York Post says the Yankees are likely to be interested in both Mariners starting pitcher Cliff Lee and Astros first baseman Lance Berkman.

The Yankees have five quality starters on the team at this point, so many may think pursuing Lee would be pointless. In all reality, adding Lee would be more of a move for next season.

If you had said before the season started that a New York Yankees pitcher would be having a Cy Young caliber season in June, you would have thought it would be CC Sabathia, AJ Burnett, or maybe even Javier Vazquez.

You might have even thought it was Mariano Rivera.

But on June 9, it’s none of those Yankee pitchers. The pitcher that is having a Cy Young caliber season is Phil Hughes.

I have to admit that a radio appearance and the debut of Stephen Strasburg took up most of my attention last night, but that didn’t stop the Yankees from beating up on the Orioles.

They won 12-7 behind a grand slam from Curtis Granderson and a hard fought performance by Phil Hughes.

Here are some notes: