New York Yankees Need To Steer Clear of Orlando Hudson

Over the past year and a half, the Yankees and Orlando Hudson have been linked by rumors. First there were trade rumors and since the deadline past in July there have been free agent rumblings.

Now Jon Heyman is reporting, via Yankees N More, that even though it seems the Yankees have settled on not trading Robinson Cano, for now, they are still considering signing Hudson and moving him to center field.

This is a deal that could end up being very bad for the Yankees in two ways and simply not good in a few others.

First of all, though Hudson is a class-A free agent and the Yankees have already signed three of those, Mark Teixeira, CC Sabathia and AJ Burnett. That means they’ve already lost three draft picks, losing a forth would set their draft class back almost automatically.

Coming on top of not being able to sign their first or second round picks last year it would certainly be a hit to their farm.

Second, moving Hudson to center field has the potential to be a disaster. Fast-forward to May, if Hudson isn’t adapting to his new position well enough and Cano makes one of his lackadaisical blunders the media will call for a switch. At that point, not only would it be a huge distraction for those players and the team, who here thinks Cano could be a legitimate center fielder.

Of course that second issue wouldn’t be such a big deal if the Yankees could figure out a way to swap Cano for a center fielder, but it’s likely the Yankees have already explored this option early in the offseason. If it didn’t work then, there is nothing to make us think it would work now.

Finally, this would be a bad move because Hudson, 31-years-old, is about to be on the downside of his career which hasn’t exactly been overwhelming. Hudson is a decent player, but he only gets on base slightly higher than an average player and has very modest power.

What has made him standout during his career is his defense at second. If you take that from him by moving him to center, you are almost guaranteeing you’re not getting the player you think you are.