Upcoming Non-Waiver Deadline: There Is Hope if Teams Will Trade with Yankees

See 07/18/2006 article on mlb.com: Trade Deadline 2006:  On the Block? .

YANKEES, PLEASE DO NOT TRADE THESE PLAYERS!

• RHP Shawn Chacon     Contract status: through 2006, Yankees. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, PLEEEEASE!  Send him to Columbus -- he never got his rehab starts.  Tell him you'll call him back in a couple weeks, and do it.  Did you see him walking off by himself from the bullpen to the dugout after the middle CWS game last Saturday?  A more miserable figure I have not seen since Weaver, and that was different.  Sad, but different. 
• RHP reliever Scott Proctor  Contract status:  through 2006 (not yet eligible for arbitration), Yankees. Mid-to-high 90s fastball, curve, 2-seamer.   Last season, I was all up in arms, feeling Proctor was being misjudged as an unsuccessful reliever with a starter's mentality.  Hate to say it, but ever since he started late this season due to his baby daughter's heart trouble, he has tossed strikes with a knifethrower's precision.  It's almost as if he has faced the devil down and nothing will scare him now.
• OF Melky Cabrera     Contract status: through 2006, Yankees.  So much better at fielding than he was last year, when he visited from A-Staten Island, it is clear that he subsequently worked with someone who believes in him at AAA-Columbus.  Also, he has hit in the clutch and generally substituted for Hideki Matsui with naive aplomb.  With Sheffield and Matsui losing months to wrist injuries, and with Bernie Williams working part-time, he seems to have a spot now and in the near future.  Sheffield and Williams may both be playing part-time next season. 

YANKEES, PLEASE CONSIDER ACQUIRING 1 or 2 of THESE:

• OF Aaron Rowand      Contract status: through 2006, $3.5 million, Phillies  He froze at the plate post-season last year, but we need temporary fielding.
• OF Jay Payton     Contract status: through 2006, A's.  Cheaper than Rowand.  Was a good Met. 
• RHP reliever Joaquin Benoit   Contract status: through 2006, Rangers
• RHP reliever Brad Hennessey  Contract status:  through 2006, Giants.  In his third year, Hennessey's ERA has dropped significantly, and he is pitching more often.    
• RHP Josh Fogg     Contract status: through 2006, $850,000, Colorado.  He needs work, but I like him. 
• LHP reliever Rheal Cormier.  Contract status: through 2006, option for '07.  $2.5 million, Phillies.  I know I like him, but it seems every time I look that he loses it.  Still, I find him worth more than that look.