Seattle Mariners prospect Nick Franklin has been mentioned in trade rumors all offseason and now that the Yankees are dealing with some injuries, the M's star and Padres 3B Chase Headley could be options for the team to trade for, while the Washington Nationals, Los Angeles Dodgers, Baltimore Orioles and NY Mets all could be looking to make a deal as well.
Franklin started the season in the minors for the Mariners after making his major league debut last season, as the team signed Robinson Cano to play second base and that pushed him back to his original position at shortstop. The tough thing about that was that brad Miller came up last season as well and he played at SS and after the two competed in spring training, Miller won out and Franklin was sent down. According to ESPN.com, the Mariners had interest at various points from the Mets, Tigers and Orioles about Franklin, but no deal was to their liking.
While Franklin played second base last season, he is a natural shortstop and while Cano is now a fixture at second base, the Mariners are still very high on Franklin and do not want to give him away for nothing. This season he has done nothing but boost his trade value, as he has been scorching hot in the minors with two home runs and five RBIs in four games and he is hitting 8 for 15 over that stretch in Tacoma. While the Mariners have not come close to any deals yet, the Yankees and Mets could look to make one as the season wears on, especially if the injuries continue to pile up for the Yanks and so far that appears to be happening.
The team ditched Eduardo Nunez for a number of reasons and they decided to stick with Yangervis Solarte and Dean Anna as their main bench utility guys and now those rookies are about to step up into more of a major role. Mark Teixeira went down with a hamstring injury and while it's only a Grade 1 strain, the team had to put him on the DL and that means Kelly Johnson now will be moving over to first base and that leaves the rookies to take care of the hot corner. Last season Teixeira missed nearly the whole year with a wrist injury and while that wasn't the injury that came up, it gives the Yankees some caution about how healthy he can be this season.
The Yankees could look to make a trade, as Franklin could conceivably play third base and serve as a backup to Derek Jeter, which is definitely needed since Brendan Ryan is out with a back injury. On top of that, Franklin serves an even better purpose, as he could be insurance for Brian Roberts at second base, as he has been injured in each of the last four seasons. The Yankees are thin on prospects so pulling off a deal could be hard and they also could look at making a move with someone like Chase Headley, who is with the Padres and is in the last year of his deal.