Sources: Berkman agrees to Yankees deal
The New York Yankees, for most of the season having used their designated-hitter spot for rehabilitation, half-days, and various tryouts, on Friday agreed to a trade with the Houston Astros for switch-hitter Lance Berkman(notes), according to reports and league sources.
Berkman has full no-trade rights but waived them for the Yankees, and the deal will be officially announced Saturday. It's unclear which other players are involved. Berkman was not in the Astros' lineup Friday against the Brewers.
The 34-year-old Berkman, a career-long Astro and once one of the most feared hitters in the National League, should give the Yankees stability at DH, certainly from his dominant left side.
Like Roy Oswalt(notes) (who went to the Philadelphia Phillies) a day earlier, Berkman waived his no-trade rights in order to facilitate the trade. The Astros went to the World Series in 2005, in part on the strength of Oswalt in the rotation and Berkman in the middle of the lineup, but haven’t been back to the postseason since, and are again also-rans in the NL Central.
In a little more than 24 hours, they turned Oswalt for a young pitcher (J.A. Happ(notes)), shortstop and corner infielder, then could turn Berkman for prospects from the Yankees.
They also saved themselves a good portion of the rest of Oswalt’s and Berkman’s contracts. The Yankees, of course, have no such concerns. Berkman is owed the remainder of his $14.5 million salary this season. The Yankees would hold a $15-million option in 2011.
They’d hoped Nick Johnson(notes) would be healthy – and therefore productive – as a DH, and neither happened. Johnson played in 24 games before injuring his wrist, ending his season with a .167 batting average.
As a result, Yankees DHs have been mediocre at best, even while recently shuffling Nick Swisher(notes), Jorge Posada(notes), Marcus Thames(notes), Derek Jeter(notes), Alex Rodriguez(notes) and Juan Miranda(notes) through that spot. Together, the team’s DHs rank seventh in the American League in RBIs, eighth in slugging and ninth in home runs.
Berkman has not, however, been entirely productive either. Battling injuries, he is batting .245 with 13 home runs and 49 RBIs in 85 games. He has struggled in particular from the right side, batting .188 with four extra-base hits in 72 plate appearances against left-handed pitching.
His power has always been from the left side, which should play at Yankee Stadium. And he’s a career .321 hitter in the postseason, which should play to the Yankees’ aspirations.
The deal has yet to be announced because there is a 24-hour waiting period for trades involving players with 10-and-5 trade veto rights – players with 10 years of MLB service and five with the same team have veto power over all trades – which Berkman waived to allow the move.
