RISING INTEREST FOR THIS YANKEE SHORTSTOP TARGET

At some point the lockout will end.... right? Hopefully sooner rather than later. Whenever it happens, the Yankees will have to address their biggest need this offseason and they may have to jump sooner than they would like. We know teams will be ready to make some deals once baseball comes back, but will the Yankees jump fast enough?

We need a shortstop BADLY and Gleyber Torres isn't it. But maybe big names like Carlos Correa and Trevor Story aren't either. In fact, other teams may be saying the same thing. Rumor has it HERE, that the market for Isiah Kiner-Falefa may be hotter than we realized months ago.

The Yankees have been rumored to be more interested in a shorter-term stop-gap option until one of our young shortstops in the minors are ready. It sounds like several other teams may have the same thought process. The Texas Rangers took a deep dive in the free agent pool before the lockout, and they threw stacks of cash out. Now they have a surplus with Kiner-Falefa who has no clear-cut defined role.

So now the Yankees are paying attention and waiting. Meanwhile the Angels, Astros, Phillies, White Sox and Blue Jays are also fits for Kiner-Falefa on paper. So with high demand the Rangers could wait for the best offer and cash in big time as the market for bigger names may change.

So the Rangers are sitting pretty. They have a nice trade piece that they can sell to the highest bidder while big names Story and Correa sit on the shelf which may be even more nerve wrecking after an already exhausting lockout. Personally, I'd be fine watching Correa get passed over and eventually watching the ASSTROS overpay for his cheating ass.... but I know I won't get that lucky.

The Yankees really don't NEED an overpriced shortstop....but they also don't need to sit out and watch any of these other teams make a big splash either. Kiner-Falefa may not be the big shiny name, but the interest is there and that says a lot.

Go to the pool Yankees, go to the pool. It's fun.
Wake me up when the lockout is over.

--Jeana Bellezza-Ochoa

BYB Senior Managing Editor

Twitter: @nyprincessj