MLB

Granderson 3-team deal worked in Yankees’ favor

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SAN FRANCISCO — Curtis Granderson strikes out too often, just tanked the postseason, and has regressed both defensively and as a base-stealing threat.

But the current criticism of the Yankees’ acquisition of Granderson is the worst kind of Monday Morning Quarterbacking — or should that be Tuesday Morning Shortstoping? It is 20-20 hindsight about just the fifth Yankee to ever go 40-40 (homers).

Yes, Austin Jackson and Phil Coke were just keys to a Tigers sweep of the Yankees, in which Granderson contributed to the hitless follies. I heard quite a bit something like: “I bet the Yankees wish they had Jackson, Coke and Ian Kennedy now.”

Yeah, NOW. But the trade was made three years ago. For the record, the AL strikeout leader from 2010-11 with 351 was not Granderson, but was Jackson and, in exchange, he hit 14 total homers. Were Yankees fans going to tolerate those growing pains to get Jackson’s payoff in his third season?

When the Yankees (Granderson), Tigers (Jackson, Coke, Max Scherzer and Daniel Schlereth) and Diamondbacks (Kennedy and Edwin Jackson) completed a trade on Dec. 8, 2009, the Yankees were trying to repeat as champs, not rebuild. They had to replace lefty power lost with the free agencies of Johnny Damon and Hideki Matsui. They thought Granderson’s lefty uppercut swing fit their short right-field porch.

Since his acquisition, Granderson has 108 homers; only Jose Bautista (124), Miguel Cabrera (112) and Albert Pujols (109) have more. With all of his flaws, Granderson has led the Yankees in homers and RBIs each of the past two seasons.

That is why the Yankees almost certainly will ignore knee-jerk sentiments to trade him. The Yankees already must compensate for losing the lefty power of switch-hitter Nick Swisher, almost certain to leave in free agency. general manager Brian Cashman told me: “I will listen on anybody, but you would be hard-pressed to get enough to trade a center fielder who is a perennial 40-homer-plus man.”

Nevertheless, I engaged several outside executives to ask what the Yankees could solicit in return once they pick up Granderson’s $15 million 2013 option. Because Granderson is a free agent after next season, the belief was only a team that saw itself as a strong 2013 contender that needs a center fielder — think Washington, Philadelphia, a few others — would be interested.

But the executives also suggested Granderson is the type of player an acquiring team would either re-sign or make a qualifying offer to after next season to get draft pick compensation if he leaves. That means the Yankees could expect to get more in a trade.

Remember that for a half season of Carlos Beltran without draft compensation, the Giants surrendered Zack Wheeler to the Mets. So could the Yankees get a similar level young hitter or pitcher in exchange for a full season of Granderson with the compensation? This at a time when the Yankees want to build their stable of high-end, low-pay possibilities since getting under the $189 million luxury tax threshold in 2014 is a mandate; a mandate that makes it very difficult to fit Granderson and Robinson Cano (also a free agent after next season) into future payrolls, thus making 2013 likely Granderson’s last season with the Yankees.

The executives spoken to saw the Giants/Beltran trade as a rare occurrence: A team that operates out of the mainstream trying to repeat as champions. Thus, no one saw a Wheeler-level return for Granderson. Which means Granderson will be back as a Yankee in 2013 pretty much for the reason he was obtained in the first place — the Yankees have title aspirations and need the lefty power.

Scutaro primed to cash in

I Would be willing to bet this is the first time Marco Scutaro and Rumeal Robinson appeared in the same sentence.

But let me see if I can close the degrees of separation between them. Robinson is symbolic for turning a strong NCAA tournament run (helping Michigan win the 1989 title) into a much-higher draft slot than his skills merited. He gave up his senior year after the championship and was drafted 10th by the Hawks.

Scutaro, the Giants’ second baseman, is a fine player, but a fine player who turns 37 on Tuesday and whose career comparables on baseball-reference.com fall into the Mariano Duncan, Julio Lugo, Mark Ellis tier. But after a tepid Division Series, Scutaro is in the midst of a dream Final Four — the NLCS MVP as he hit .500 in a seven-game takedown of the Cardinals and two more hits and RBIs in the Giants’ Game 1 World Series triumph over the Tigers.

You can make a case that the Mets (to be their starting second basemen) and the Yankees (as Derek Jeter/Alex Rodriguez insurance) both have reasons to pursue Scutaro. But this high-profile success very well could inflate Scutaro beyond his true value as that NCAA tourney did for Robinson.

* The Giants are serving as testimony that a well-run organization can sustain winning even if they have to make wholesale roster changes, which is a good lesson as teams and fan bases brace for free agency this offseason.

San Francisco used 11 players in the World Series-clinching Game 5 win in 2010. Just one of them — catcher Buster Posey — was employed in the same position just two years later. Five of the players are completely gone, including (sorry Mets fans) center fielder Andres Torres, left fielder Cody Ross, third baseman Juan Uribe, DH Pat Burrell, center fielder Aaron Rowand and shortstop Edgar Renteria.

Closer Brian Wilson and second baseman Freddy Sanchez missed most of this season with injury, first baseman Aubrey Huf
f has been downgraded to a bat off the bench and Tim Lincecum has fallen from ace to reliever.

“Pitching, manager and coaching staff,” Giants general manager Brian Sabean said. “If you have strength and stability there it allows you to re-invent yourself like we have.”