Brendan Ryan to Washington Nationals for Anything

The New York Yankees once again have an opportunity to get younger, better and more versatile this offseason and all they have to do is trade away Brendan Ryan. Sounds easy enough right, the guy can play all over the infield extremely well and has a modest salary. While Ryan comes with obvious offensive question marks there are certain teams out there that could afford to survive with a defense first (only) second baseman, the Washington Nationals.

The Nationals do not seem very comfortable with handing the second base job to Danny Espinosa and the team would rather have the likes of Anthony Rendon at third base and Ryan Zimmerman at second base. I don’t pretend to be an expert in the Washington farm system but a quick google search and some research tells me that their best prospects who could take over the position spent the 2014 season in High-A ball and are probably two years or more away.

If the Nationals would take Ryan and his salary for essentially a throw in player, probably a big pitcher that we can drool over that’s in A Ball, New York could make room for Jose Pirela on the bench. If Didi Gregorius were to struggle the recently signed Stephen Drew could serve as the backup while Pirela could serve as the backup at second, his most natural position anyway. It is also worth mentioning that Pirela played every position in the minor leagues except for pitcher and catcher so it would not be out of the realm of possibilities to plug him in at short, or anywhere for that matter, in a pinch.

With this trade the Yankees save a couple million bucks, they get younger, they give a shot to one of their own and ultimately I think the team gets better. This trade seems to fit the mold of everything Brian Cashman has been trying to do this offseason, doesn’t it? 

Also, as an FYI, if you want to remove the words "Washington Nationals" and replace them with the words "New York Mets" that works also.