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.

Now, I’m not one to dwell on “intangibles.” I don’t think Derek Jeter produces leadership with every organ, particularly the lower gastric region. That said, I don’t think Ankeil has the intangibles to compete in New York.

I’ve given my best effort to waxing poetic about Ankiel’s quest for normalcy elsewhere, and I won’t dwell on it. I’ll simply offer this quote from Cards beat-writer Derrick Goold as a frame:

Just a few paragraphs into the article and it’s clear that [Pat] Jordan may have had the last, in-depth, door-open interview with Ankiel [in 2001] before he and others constructed a personal cocoon that he is reluctant to leave even now.

(”Do you blame him?” manager Tony La Russa once asked me.)

Ignoring the media doesn’t work in New York. Cocoons don’t work in New York. Rick Ankiel melted down once because of pressure, and that was in St. Louis. Ankiel would be chum to the ongoing shark frenzy of the New York media.

Pat Jordan described Rick Ankiel as a a “hothouse flower.” There’s no doubt that Ankiel would wilt in New York.