Brett Gardner receiving "significant interest" from other teams

Bringing in Jacoby Ellsbury and Carlos Beltran crowds up the Yankees' outfield, giving them six outfielders on the roster at the moment, and that means Brett Gardner could become a valuable trade piece that the Yankees could use to get the starting pitcher they're looking for.

The Yankees have said that they do not plan to trade Gardner this offseason, but the speedy outfielder has been receiving "significant interest" from teams, says Andy McCullough of theThe Star-Ledger.

McCullough says that while the Yankees are willing to trade Gardner, they're not shopping his just yet. But they are going to listen to offers to see what they could get back for him -- preferable a starting pitcher, third baseman, or a second baseman.

As for who the teams interested might be, we don't know, but I can certainly see a number of teams calling the Yankees to inquire on Gardner.

A speedy guy for the top of the lineup, can slap the ball around the field, and is a solid defender in center field, I can't see why a lot of teams wouldn't be interested.

However, keeping Gardner wouldn't be the worst. The Yankees have been saying that the plan is to have Gardner and Ellsbury provide their speed at the top of the lineup, while it would also be helpful to have Gardner, who is the youngest of the six outfielders on the roster, as insurance in case Ellsbury, who has a history of injuries, or and older player like Beltran, with his knee problems, gets hurt.

Gardner has one year left on his contract, so if the Yankees were ever going to trade him, now would be the time with him coming off the best offensive season of his career.

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