8:24pm: MLB.com’s Dick Kaegel says there’s nothing to the rumor of the Yankees being interested in Teahen. Yanks GM Brian Cashman said he hasn’t even discussed it internally.
1:16pm: Bob Dutton of the Kansas City Star is reporting that the Yankees may have interest in acquiring Royals’ utility man Mark Teahen, in light of Alex Rodriguez’s recent decision to undergo surgery.
Royals officials are writing it off as speculation, but with A-Rod expected to miss two months, the Yanks have been on the lookout for a temporary fix. Their current in-house candidate for a replacement is 33-year-old journeyman Cody Ransom. Ransom has 183 Major League ABs in an 11-year professional career.
Teahen is set to make $3.575MM in 2009, and the Royals’ current projected payroll of $75MM is slightly higher than the $70MM they had originally budgeted for.
One Royals official stated that they were hoping the Yankees would sign Mark Grudzielanek, which would give Kansas City a sandwich pick in the 2009 draft. Doing this would require moving Robinson Cano to third base, however.
