Philadelphia Phillies OF Bobby Abreu and SP Cory Lidle are headed to the Bronx to wear the New York Yankees pinstripes.  The Phillies in return will receive three minor leaguers that include SS C.J. Henry, the Yankees 2005 number one pick, C Jesus Sanchez, and P Carlos Monasterios.  They will also get one major league player in lefty reliever, Matt Smith.

On top of acquiring Abreu and Lidle, the Yankees also inherit the rest of their 2006 salaries, plus Abreu’s 2007 salary.  Lidle is a free agent after this season and is at best a servicable arm.  Abreu is owed about $4 million for the rest of this season and due $15 million for next.  It’s still a question whether or not the Yankees will exercise Abreu’s 2008 option for $16 million in order for Abreu to waive his no-trade clause or if the Phillies paid Abreu an amount for him to agree to be traded.

If/when the trade goes through (Bobby Abreu was seen in the dugout in this afternoon’s game against the Florida Marlins hugging his teammates and was a late scratch), the Yankees will help their postseason hopes a lot this season.  Abreu’s power has never been the same since winning last year’s Home Run Derby, but everything else - batting average, RBI, scoring runs, stealing bases - is still pretty much intact.  He is an excellent addition to the Yankees batting order that can look like this come September when Gary Sheffield and Hideki Matsui are expected back.

OF Johnny Damon
SS Derek Jeter
3B Alex Rodriguez
DH Gary Sheffield
1B Jason Giambi
OF Hideki Matsui
OF Bobby Abreu
C Jorge Posada
2B Robinson Cano

Actually, this is only a guess as the 3 to 7 spots can be mixed and matched and it would be effective every single time.  The Yankees are getting older and going for it all this season is the right move to get it done.  However, just when the Yankees were building a pretty good minors system they had to go bargain it for potential immediate results.  We’ll see if the “All-Star at every position” team actually brings home a World Series title.