Brian Cashman met with the Marlins at about 6 p.m. last night at the GM meetings. No offers were made, but a source with knowledge of the situation said the Marlins made it clear that the Yankees would have to include either Phil Hughes, Joba Chamberlain or Ian Kennedy in any trade for Cabrera, something the Yankees are not willing to do.
The Yankees would likely offer a deal involving their next tier of prospects, which includes Alan Horne, Humberto Sanchez, Ross Ohlendorf and Jose Tabata. The Marlins have evidently let it be known that he's available, so we're looking into it," Hank Steinbrenner said. "But everything is really very preliminary."
Cabrera can flat out hit and at 24, he's a budding superstar. That being said, who should the Yanks part with to get him? Joba, Hughes and IPK are pretty much untouchable. I'd consider trading Hughes or Kennedy for a Johan Santana/#1 starting pitcher but that's it. However, you do have to give up something very good to get this kind of young hitter unless it's a complete salary dump. I saw Tabata play in Spring training and he's going to be a stud. He's not even 20 (08/12/1988) yet and his line at Tampa this past year was:
.307, 5 HR's,54 RBI's, 16 2B's, 15 SB's, and a .763 OPS.
His power numbers were down, but he's got good power and a strong throwing arm. The Yanks second tier of prospects are very good also so we'll see. I have seen in recent years that the rest of the GM's want much more from the Yanks for their players. Arizona wanted four top players including Soriano back in '03 for Schilling and when the Yanks said no to Soriano, they traded him to Boston for Casey (who?) Fossum and a couple of other no name prospects. They never came back to the Yanks to hear another offer. It was quite surprising...Expect more of the same treatment.