In a blog entry this morning, New York Post baseball writer Joel Sherman wrote this of the Yankees’ interest in acquiring St. Louis Cardinals centerfielder Rick Ankiel:

The Yankees have been among at least five teams looking into obtaining Ankiel. [...] St. Louis has two needs: A closer and a starter. [...] The Cardinals do have some interest, for example, in Ian Kennedy

On the surface, it would seem like a pretty good trade for the Yankees. Ankiel hit .264/.337/.506 for the Cardinals while playing an adequate centerfield. He has a short, compact left-handed pull swing that would play very well at Yankee Stadium — well, the old one, anyways. His 25 home runs helped him post a 119 OPS+. Had Ankiel qualified for the batting title, this OPS+ would have ranked sixth among centerfielders. Then there’s that arm. Ask any Cardinals fan about Rick Ankiel’s throwing arm and prepare for a vigorous meating of your external acoutistic meatus.

Kennedy, meanwhile, has lost much of his top-prospect shine, but he’s still got a good arm. He would be attractive to the Cardinals, who have a strong farm system but are short on arms. Toss in a lower-level arm or two, and the deal wouldn’t decimate the Yankees’ system. That doesn’t make it a good trade for the Yankees.
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Former Yanks’ second baseman Joe Gordon posthumously elected to Hall of Fame by Veterans Committee; Chuck Knoblauch breathes a sigh of relief upon hearing that even after the writers who didn’t like him refuse to vote him in to the Hall, his colleagues can still vote him in long after he is dead and sweet senility has robbed them of the memory of not liking him.

Commissioner Goodell advises NFL players to avoid unsafe situations; Sends out comprehensive study pointing out that you are 57% more likely to lose your Chap Stick while wearing sweatpants, so in turn, carrying a loaded firearm while wearing them probably qualifies as a fairly unsafe situation.

Perennial All-Star Greg Maddux retires after 23 seasons; An undeniable first ballot Hall of Famer, the pitcher plans to sneak up and jovially relieve himself on his fellow inductees at the ceremony.