Thoughts following the Chase Headley trade: low risk, high reward for the Yankees

Brian Cashman made another needed move to improve the team on Tuesday, acquiring third baseman Chase Headley from the San Diego Padres along with about a $1 million in exchange for Yangervis Solarte and minor league pitcher Rafael De Paula.

Headley is a player that the Yankees have had an eye on for a long time, and needing another productive bat in the lineup, Cashman made a deal to get him, even if he's only here through the rest of the season.

Some thoughts on the deal.....

1. Say what you will about Cashman, but he's made two potentially impact deals this month that included the second team paying the Yankees to take a player off their hands. He managed to get Brandon McCarthy and cash from the Arizona Diamondbacks for Vidal Nuno, and now he got Headley and cash for Solarte, a rookie that hasn't been productive since mid-May, and De Paula, 23, who hasn't made it past High-A Tampa yet and has struggled with control issues over the past couple of seasons. De Paula still has big league potential, but Cashman didn't have to give up one of the system's more prominent arms, and that's important.
2. Hitting .229/.296/.355 (88 wRC+) with seven homers and 12 doubles through 77 games this season with the Padres, there is to suspect that Headley, 30, will be able to start hitting a little bit more with the help of the small, hitter-friendly Yankee Stadium, rather than the big and spacious Petco Park -- that's what you have to hope for when a player moves away from a bigger ballpark. Also, he was batting .298/.330/.405 in 21 games since receiving an epidural a couple weeks ago to deal with a back issue that the Yankees believe won't be an issue, so he's coming over to the Yankees swinging a nice bat already.
3. Headley has never been considered a Gold Glove fielder at third base, and even Cashman acknowledged that yesterday, but he's clearly an upgrade over what Kelly Johnson and Solarte player there everyday, with even Zelous Wheeler platooning in and out.
4. Cashman only called Headley a rental yesterday, but you really have to think that if he performs well for the remainder of the season and really likes playing in New York that the Yankees will considering signing him to a multi-year deal with Alex Rodriguez lined up to rejoin the team next spring after sitting out an entire season, adding onto the second hip surgery that he had last season. I've been right along side all of the people that believe A-Rod has played not only his last game for the Yankees, but his last game in professional baseball. Reports from earlier in the year have said that the Yankees would be willing to bring A-Rod back next season if he's able to give them anything productive with the bat. I still don't believe that he'll be back in pinstripes next season, and they could be much better off filling the clear need at third base long-term.
5. Back to talking about the Yankees gave up: De Paula isn't considered a major loss for the farm system. Sign for $500k out of Dominican Republic in 2010, he did not make his pro debut until 2012 due to visa issues and was also suspended one year before signing for lying about his age. He impressed in the first half of 2013, with a 2.94 ERA, 13.43 K/9 and 3.22 BB/9 in Low-A Charleston, but never seemed to adjust once he got to High-A Tampa, with control issues being his biggest problem. Hopefully he finds s good groove in San Diego. But yeah, the Yankees have taken a pair of players that weren't even considered locks to made the team out of spring training -- Nuno and Solarte -- and turned them into half seasons of McCarthy and Headley. In the end, if this fails, the Yankees didn't give up much in the first place.

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