The its only april but Montero post

Well the Yankees are getting set for game two against the Twins with CC taking the mound and Russell Martin behind the plate. In his limited action as a Yankee Martin has been pretty good offensively and defensively, but again the sample size is too small to make any real assessment of him overall. The question I really want to pose is, If Russell Martin is able to return to his old 2007 form and become a real offensive force as well as a very good defensive catcher would the Yankees decide that he will be their starting catcher of the future and what would that mean for Jesus Montero?
If Martin does return to his old form then then the Yankees have several options of what they could do with him
A) They could keep him as their starting catcher. After all he is only 28 and is much better defensively than Montero or Cervelli.
B) The Yankees could trade him midway through the season for a starting pitcher.
C) They could let him go after the year and if he gets class A free agency then they would get a draft pick.

More after the Jump

Those options are all assuming that he does return to his old form and doesn't flop in the Bronx, because if he does flop then he will be backing up Jesus Montero before you can say oh' Canada.
Jesus Montero is the Yankees top prospect and probable the must hyped prospect since Derek Jeter, but Montero's key chip is his bat because his defense behind the plate is poor despite his strong arm and most scouts do not think that he will be able to stay behind the plate. Would the Yankees trade Montero or would they move him somewhere else? Unfortunately the most likely place to move him would be 1st base or right field and both those places are currently taken by Mark Teixiera and Nick Swisher and I doubt that the Yankees would cut either loose even for a prospect like Montero. Montero has been a big trade chip that teams have asked the Yankees for and he was almost traded for Cliff Lee last season and despite loosing out on the backup spot this spring his status as the systems top prospect remains intact. If the Yankees did decide to trade Montero who would they trade him for? I can't see them trading him for anything but a starting pitcher but who? Obviously if the Mariners made Felix available the Yankees would trade Montero for him but other than that who else would they be willing to part with Montero for?

I think that these pitchers are the only ones that the Yankees would be willing to trade Montero for:

• Clayton Kershaw (23, lefty and has a sub 3 ERA and over 200 innings pitched)
• Trevor Cahil (same as Kershaw but a righty and just under 200 innings pitched)
• Josh Johnson ( had a 2.30 ERA last year in the NL east with 28 starts)

Other than Felix those are the only pitchers that I can think of that I would trade Montero for and the teams could have some possible interest in a trade with the Yankees. I'd love to trade for Matt Cain but the Giants don't need a catcher, 1st baseman or right fielder and the Phillies aren't going to do a trade and the Yankees wouldn't deal Montero to the Rays or Sox. Do you have any other pitchers that you would trade Montero for and would you do any of these trades?

Check out this post and more on my blog: A True Yankee