Xavier Nady Trade Rumors Continue

Rumors connecting the Atlanta Braves and the Yankees’ Xavier Nady and Nick Swisher continue to persist, but it remains hard to tell if either side are seriously contemplating a trade.

Early in the off-season, it seemed like the Yankees wanted to deal one of their spare outfielders in order to shed payroll. After they were able to retain Andy Pettitte for only $5.5 million guaranteed it doesn’t seem as if there is a great need to move either player.

So now it seems like they are willing to go into the season with both, after all they do have a tentative situation in center and Swisher has experience out there. Now, according to Ken Rosenthal, the Bombers would only deal either player if they are able to regain some of the prospects they had to give up to get them.

As part of the Nady deal the Yankees traded Jose Tabata who was one of the highest ranked prospects in their organization. To get Swisher they had to include pitching prospect Jeffrey Marquez. The Yankees thought highly of both players so they probably would want a decent package in return.

This brings us to the Braves. For all the talk that has been going around it is hard to tell how serious they are. It doesn’t make sense for them to give up a player that is close to being ready for the major leagues for Nady since he is a free agent after the season. So they would probably want Swisher, but he comes with an affordable three-year deal, so the Yankees would probably want more for him.

It might take a similarly talented player as the then 19-year-old Tabata to net either of the two, but there have been no indications that is going to happen. So it seems like this is destined to be all talk.

It does get interesting though when Rosenthal reports that the Braves would be interested in free agent and former Yankee Bobby Abreu. They haven’t gotten into discussions with Abreu because they would prefer one of the Yankees guys according to Rosenthal.

To me this means that the Braves might be serious about a deal because they could get Abreu without giving up anybody or any draft picks. So for them paying less salary might be more important than any players they could give up. Which ultimately means, if they want a bat they might have to make a deal with the Yankees.

So expect these rumors to continue until August or an actual trade.