Jon Heyman, over at SI, feels that the Yanks are going to go after Nate McLouth in the off-season. Nate's the Pirates' current center fielder, and the Pirates and Yanks don't seem to have any obstacles to trading, having completed the trade which sent Xavier Nady and Damaso Marte to the Bronx earlier this summer.
Here's the rub: While I like McLouth, I do not see him as an upgrade over Brett Gardner. McLouth looks to be an eventual 25/100/.300 guy. Gardner's game is more speed and finesse, and I don't see him ever hitting 25 homers or knocking in a hundred runs. It's not his game. I do see Brett doing exactly what he has shown so far: running like the wind, playing amazing defense, being pesky on the basepaths, and generally being gritty. His batting average so far is an extremely small sample size, but it has been picking up lately [he's over .200 finally!].
So, McLouth - love the player, hate the cost to acquire. Let's concentrate our resources elsewhere.
At least to me, Gardner projects as a latter-day Mickey Rivers, and that's something we should not turn our noses up at.
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