MLB

GOOD DEAL BETTER

BOSTON – Xavier Nady arrived in the Yankees dugout about midway through batting practice yesterday afternoon and was greeted near the bat rack by GM Brian Cashman and Alex Rodriguez.

Rodriguez gave a handshake and a hug to Nady, and then turned to Cashman to express his pleasure about the acquisition of the outfielder and Damaso Marte from the Pirates.

“Wow,” A-Rod said. “I want to kiss you.”

This had nothing to do with Madonna falling out of A-Rod‘s life, just his elation at enlisting two players he thinks fit the Yankees’ pennant-drive needs so ideally. The Yanks are having a great New England weekend. They have picked up both two games on Boston and two helpful players.

But here is the thing: It has been a pretty darn good weekend for 2009, as well. Because Joba Chamberlain sure did look like a future ace on Friday night, and because Nady and Marte are controllable next year, too, and because Cashman’s willingness to table his conservative bent to trade prospects screams that he strongly believes he has even more and better prospects coming.

“We have built up an inventory that allows us to pause and be selective on whom to move,” Cashman said.

It was not long ago that Chamberlain was part of the budding minor league depth. Now, you see him as a No. 1 starter in training. That is truer than ever after Friday night. His best performance of the year came against the Red Sox, at Fenway, against Josh Beckett, in a 1-0 game during a playoff push.

As The Post first reported several weeks ago, the Yanks are planning a strong free-agent run at CC Sabathia after this season. If they were to land him, the Yanks would construct a long-term rotation around Sabathia and Chamberlain. They also would have 2008’s expected ace, Chien-Ming Wang, plus perhaps Mike Mussina and Andy Pettitte. Why not? Mussina has 13 wins and Pettitte won his 12th yesterday in the Yanks’ 10-3 rout of Boston.

The Yanks are one game back of wild card-leading Boston. They may very well add another starter, Seattle’s Jarrod Washburn. And Wang, Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy are in various levels of injury recovery. In the 2009 scenario, Hughes and Kennedy would be Triple-A depth.

That kind of projection made it a little easier to deal three arms – Ross Ohlendorf, Jeff Karstens and Daniel McCutchen – for Nady and Marte. The Yanks particularly like McCutchen from that group, but they believe they have at least several prospect options ahead of McCutchen, whether he ends up in the rotation or pen. Cashman also stated that outfielder Jose Tabata, the other prospect traded to Pittsburgh, had been passed by Double-A outfield mate Austin Jackson in the Yanks’ opinion.

Jackson is unlikely to be ready to start next year, but Nady’s presence should help solve the look of the 2009 outfield. Nady, Johnny Damon and Hideki Matsui can all be free agents after the 2009 season. Bobby Abreu can be a free agent this offseason and in case the Yanks determine not to bring him back, Nady could potentially play right at around half the cost of Abreu’s $16 million 2008 salary.

Marte has a $6 million option for next year, and don’t be shocked to see the Yanks pick it up under the belief that it is better to overpay a player for one year rather than have to give him a multi-year contract.

The Yanks have not had a southpaw reliever who can adequately shut down lefty might for a long time as Marte did by striking out David Ortiz with 96 mph heat in the seventh inning yesterday. If Marte keeps doing that, he will be back in some form next year. So will Nady. So will Chamberlain. So will that war chest of prospects.

Suddenly the Yanks look like more of a 2008 contender than they did two weeks ago. Their 2009 looks a little better, too.

joel.sherman@nypost.com