Rosenthal: "Yanks aggressively pushing Joba, Hughes"

Ken Rosenthal of FoxSports.com is reports that the New York Yankees, according the sources, are "aggresivly pushing" to trade Joba Chamberlain and Phil Hughes.

I'm not at all surprised by these reports, as it's only been a matter of time before the Yanks started to ramp up the trade discussions on these two players. With both in the final year of their contracts, and both having not the best of years, the return might not be very high.

If the Yankees were to trade either or both of these guys, they could use the opportunity to get another bat in return. With the offense as awful as it's been lately, even an above average hitter would help the Yanks' lineup in many ways.

Several teams have been seen scouting Joba and Hughes in recent weeks, but as of now, Rosenthal says that there isn't any deals close to being done, but a trade to a National League team could happen soon.

There are plenty of teams, however, that could really use the help of another starter or reliever -- Cardinals, Rangers, Giants, Braves, Dodgers and Diamondbacks.

Hughes has had a very up and down year, pulling off good and bad streaks every other week. Over his last 10 starts, he's 2-6, not making it past the 5th inning in four of those starts. For the entire season, Hughes is 4-8 with a 4.55 ERA in 17 starts, while giving ip 101 hits in 95 innings.

Joba's season hasn't been anything too special, either. He spent most of May on the disabled list, and in 22 appearances this season, Joba has an ERA of 5.75 with 22 strikeouts and 10 walks, while giving up 26 hits in 20.1 innings.

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