INDIANAPOLIS — It took a month of complicated, three-team negotiations, but the Yankees completed the personnel portion of a trade yesterday that brings Curtis Granderson to the Bronx.
All that’s left to finalize the seven-player trade is the three sides finding no glitches in medical reports that were exchanged yesterday. Yankees officials did not believe that the deal would be finalized before today, when the Diamondbacks would get Ian Kennedy’s medical report.
In principle the trade is completed with Granderson going to the Yankees; Edwin Jackson and Kennedy going to the Diamondbacks; and a prospect haul of Daniel Schlereth, Max Scherzer, Austin Jackson and Phil Coke going to the payroll-slashing Tigers.
“There is a lot of noise out there, I can’t speak to the noise,” GM Brian Cashman sheepishly said last night.
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At last month’s GM Meetings, The Post initially reported that Granderson was available and that the Yankees would be at the front of the line to get him.
Arizona quickly joined three-team discussions and scores of permutations were discussed over the past few weeks. Initially, Detroit said it had to have Joba Chamberlain or Phil Hughes to move Granderson, and the Yankees refused.
Late Monday night, the Yankees rebuffed the deal because they did not want to include Coke and Mike Dunn, a lefty reliever prospect. But Tuesday morning, the Tigers re-ignited talks by removing Dunn from discussions and that sped all parties to the finish line.
“He is a very good player with two vicious flaws,” a talent evaluator said of Granderson, who hit .249 with a career-high 30 homers and 71 RBIs. “He strikes out (141 last season) and he doesn’t hit lefties (.183).”
Johnny Damon, who may be pushed out by the Granderson trade, thinks hitting instructor Kevin Long will help.
“Once he gets a hold of Granderson, his on-base percentage (.327) will improve and his strikeouts will go down,” Damon predicted.
Despite the flaws, Granderson had so many assets the Yankees were determined to obtain him.
He is in his prime, not turning 29 until March. He has a reasonable contract (three years at $25.75 million left with an option for 2013). He has power; his 30 homers last year were the fourth most by a lefty in the AL, and he hit just 10 at his tough home park. The Yankees imagine him challenging 40 home runs playing home games as a pull hitter with a short right-field porch. He is athletic. He is a big overall upgrade over Melky Cabrera. And he is known as one of the most personable guys in the game.
Can he handle New York and all the pressures that come with being a Yankee? That is always a tough question, and vital because his job will be to probably help replace the lefty power of Damon and/or Hideki Matsui, players that proved they could thrive in the Bronx cauldron.
The Yanks’ feeling has been that if they did nothing this offseason except re-sign Andy Pettitte and obtain Granderson they would be a strong team for 2010. But that strategy also enables them to be more judicious with others. For example, Granderson’s acquisition means the Yanks will definitely be making Damon an offer well below what Damon believes his market value is, possibly for only one year at less than $10 million.
“I don’t think it affects what I can still do,” Damon said of Granderson being a Yankee. “Either they pursue me or they don’t. I still know how to play baseball and will make any team better.”
The chances of Damon returning are now extremely iffy. But with Granderson due a reasonable $5.5 million next year, the Yanks could spend money on more starting pitching and/or another outfielder such as Mike Cameron.
The tough player for the Yankees to lose in this swap was Austin Jackson. In recent years, the Yankees have protected Jackson when, for example, the Nationals asked for him in July 2006 for Alfonso Soriano and Seattle asked for him last July for Jarrod Washburn.
But the reality is if Jackson maximizes his talent, he would probably be just a cost-efficient version of Granderson. The Yanks believe that in the NL West, Kennedy’s stuff will play to double-digit win effectiveness. Kennedy’s ability after aneurysm surgery to pitch well in the Arizona Fall League — mainly his ability to show health by precisely locating his pitches — was important to the Diamondbacks in this process.
As for Coke, he became more expendable with the re-emergence of Damaso Marte in the playoffs. And Dunn could potentially climb into the role of second bullpen lefty.