Jerry Hairston Jr. Padres Bound, Another New York Yankees LF Possibility Gone

This past week, I made up a list of potential players who could be a solution to the left field vacancy for the Yankees in 2010.

Looks like we can cross off one of those names on the list.

According to MLB Trade Rumors and Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports, Hairston has a deal in place to join the San Diego Padres for about $2 million.

The deal for Hairston makes sense to go to the Padres, as his brother Scott Hairston was just traded to San Diego this past week in the deal that sent Kevin Kouzmanoff to the Oakland A's.

The Yankees were in talks with Hairston to bring him back for 2010 after they acquired him last July at the trading deadline, and Hairston had a lot of big roles in the Yankees winning the 2009 World Series.

So now that Hairston has a World Series ring and playoff experience under his belt, Hairston couldn't pass up the opportunity to play baseball everyday with his brother, which is probably the main reason why Hairston didn't choose the Yankees.

Also, it will be likely that Hairston could play everyday at one of the seven different positions that he can play, whereas on the Yankees, he might have been the starting left fielder, or he could have been playing on the bench and giving Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez days off at shortstop and third base.

So since Hairston is now San Diego bound, it still leaves a void in left field for the Yankees next season. It also leaves a void on the bench for the Yankees that was very good and played in key roles in 2009.

Looks like the search for a left fielder and role players in 2010 continues for Brian Cashman.