Should The Rockies Engage The Yankees About Michael Cuddyer?

To be clear, this question is based on nothing more than speculation from ESPN baseball analyst/New York Yankees expert Buster Olney. He was sure to make that clear in his tweet:

If the Rockies traded Michael Cuddyer it would be an acknowledgment of the fact that they have a surplus of position players. It would clear the way for playing time for some of their younger talent and, in the case of the New York Yankees, it would capitalize on another team’s desperation for offensive help. Struggled though he did in 2012, Cuddyer is still a coveted commodity as a right-handed power hitter.

Not pictured: his custom-designed team t-shirts. Image: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports

I have said for a while now that the Rockies should shop Cuddyer and his burdensome contract for any kind of pitching help. If a team is willing to take on that contract and give the Rockies even $0.40 on the dollar in pitching help for Cuddyer’s services, then it makes sense. The hang-up in a potential deal has been and will continue to be that any trading partners do not want to take on Cuddy’s contract. Hence Olney’s speculation that the Rockies would eat the money.

If trading Cuddyer is only possible if the Rockies absorb the financial hit, then they absolutely, positively should not trade him. If the Rockies are paying Cuddyer than he darn well better be playing for the Rockies, protecting CarGo and Tulo in the lineup, doing card tricks, being a clubhouse leader, and fashioning ‘PG’ t-shirts for his teammates.

In any hypothetical scenario where these two teams might be trade partners, the Rockies should never be the ones absorbing extra money. Ever. If the Yankees, the New York frickin’ Yankees, the evil empire, are hard-lining the Rockies on a trade because they will not eat extra money, then Dan O’Dowd and co. better turn and run from those negotiations.

If Olney is right about that being the case in a potential Cuddyer-to-the-Yankees deal, then the Rockies absolutely should not engage the evil empire in trade talks.