The New York Yankees have dominated Major League Baseball's headlines lately for their free agent signing of Hiroki Kuroda and trade for Michael Pineda in recent days. Now they might be at it again for a potent bat to add to their line-up. The latest rumor on the Interwebs has the Kansas City Royals dealing Billy Butler to the Yankees in some deal that includes young pitcher Phil Hughes of the Yankees.
Billy Butler has been deemed the best trade asset of any of the Kansas City Royals hitters for some time now for several reasons. He's very experienced as an ML hitter yet he's only 25 years old. He's also quite affordable at $8 million for 2012 and signed through 2014 with a club option for 2015. For the Royals, however, he could be termed expendable since he's the team's most expensive player and yet he's also their designated hitter. Those two things generally should not go together for a small-market team like the Royals.
As for Butler, he'd give the Yankees a .300 hitter with solid gap power that would play well in Yankee Stadium. The Royals on the other hand would take on Hughes, who is the same age as Butler. Hughes took a step back last year yet is still considered one of the better young pitchers in the American League. Yet back problems persisted last year and the recent acquisitions leave him likely out of the starting rotation for the Yankees. Both players have their cons and yet both players also fit the needs for the team receiving him.
Everything is conjecture at this point, but it's an interesting rumor to say the least. If anything, it's a spark of Royals news in a dead period of the off-season.