New York Yankees

By Larry Barnes | Yankees 'n More
It might sound strange to say this on a night when Mariano Rivera just successfully closed out a 3-2 win in a shutout 9th inning on the road for his 21st save in 23 chances, but... I'm concerned about Mariano Rivera.

NOTE: team and player statistics updated through Sunday morning, July 4 11:00 AM CT

1. New York Yankees (62-35)
Two pitchers who deserve to be in the AL Cy Young Award conversation (Andy Pettitte and C.C. Sabathia) and arguably the league’s best offense. Things are looking pretty good in the Bronx.

2. Tampa Bay Rays (59-38)
The Rays should start getting comfortable in the second-place seat in the AL East. They could be in that seat for a while.

3. San Diego Padres (58-41)

According to Jon Heyman of Sports Illustrated , the Baltimore Orioles owner, Peter Angelos, doesn’t want his team to make trades with the Yankees. This means that the Yankees will not be able to land IF Ty Wigginton.

According to Alex Speier of WEEI.com , the Blue Jays intend to get a good return for reliever Scott Downs and will ask for one of each interested club’s top prospects in return.

Here is more from Speier:

According to Jayson Stark of ESPN , the Royals don’t seem like they are going to part with their closer, Joakim Soria , and they have even turned down an offer by the Yankees that included their top prospect, catcher Jesus Montero .

Here’s more from Stark:

Trade speculation surrounding the Yankees in recent days has centered on starting pitching, but their most pressing need is bullpen help.

With the recent trade of Dan Haren, the trade market is slowly beginning to diminish. Although Andy Pettitte wants to return now, Joe Girardi is playing the safe card and resting him. He surely doesn’t want to re-injure a pitcher of his caliber.

In order to secure a consistent one through five rotation, the Yankees should acquire a starter.

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Earlier this week, I took a look at one of the primary concerns for the Yankees as they head into the dog days of summer, the suddenly fragile state of the starting rotation. In the subsequent games since my article, we have been treated to a well-diversified display of the myriad issues facing the Yankees starting pitching.

The Arizona Diamondbacks have announced that they have traded RHP Dan Haren to the Los Angeles Angels in return for RHP Joe Saunders and others.

The deal also involves Patrick Corin, Rafael Rodriguez, and a player to be named later for Haren.

Sports Illustrated’s Jon Heyman ran down a list of 15 teams that are looking to buy before the trade deadline. Here’s what he had to say about the New York Yankees: