The Yankees are apparently interested in Todd Helton and Rockies closer Brian Fuentes. (h/t). What’s interesting is that not only would a deal for Helton and/or Fuentes involve addressing the Yankees’ strength (veteran hitters – the team is third in the AL in scoring with only two regulars, one of them the 31-year-old A-Rod, under age 33) and moderate strength (the bullpen – the Yankees have three middlemen pitching solidly, Proctor, Myers and Bruney, plus they have Rivera, although the setup men – Farnsworth and Vizcaino – and Rivera have all struggled) and not their weaknesses in the starting rotation, but they are dealing with a team, the Rockies, that will likely want some of the Yanks’ stable of young starters in return.
Not that a deal would be a bad idea – Clemens is on the way to help the rotation, and Helton and Fuentes would certainly be an upgrade on Mientkiewicz and Farnsworth. In fact, a willingness to act opportunistically to add to their strengths, rather than dealing on their weaknesses, has long been a hallmark of Yankee strategy, from signing Howard to go with Berra to adding Gossage to Lyle to adding Abreu to Matsui and Sheffield.