The New York Yankees actually have a surplus of players at a few positions. Scouts from teams continue to evaluate the young Yankee catchers, and now there even some rumblings that teams are also scouting the Yankees outfielders. Our own Yankee insider has been told that the Yankees are possibly listening to offers for catching backup candidate Austin Romine and pitcher Preston Claiborne. I also reported last week that teams have shown interest in starting pitcher David Phelps, along with the few of the catchers . While nothing has materialized yet, the rumor mill continues to spin. Now the latest rumors have included Francisco Cervelli and possibly Ichiro Suzuki.

Ichiro Suzuki does not have a no-trade clause, and he appears to be the odd man out in the NYY outfield. The Phillies need outfield help. — Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) March 9, 2014

ESPN’s Buster Olney thinks that the Philadelphia Phillies could be interested in Ichiro. Now when you initially look at this, it doesn’t look like a match made in heaven for either side. Just like the Yankees, the Phillies don’t have the space for Ichiro to be an everyday starter. They also have several older outfielders in already in camp, including one-time Yankee Bobby Abreu. When you start looking at the numbers they don’t add up. The Phillies are right up against the luxury tax right now and taking on Ichiro would put them over the $189 million dollar mark. So if this trade was going to happen, either the Yankees would have to eat most of Ichiro’s $6.5 million dollar salary while the Phillies might send over a possible young arm. The other scenario is they give the Yankees a player of equal value. The name that comes up is reliever Mike Adams, who unfortunately is trying to come back from a torn rotator cuff and two labrum tears. So let’s basically squash this rumor right now. The Yankees probably want to keep Ichiro, and Ichiro seems to be happy with his role on the team.

The other news is that Chicago White Sox are showing particular interest in Cervelli. They are not the only team showing interest, but they seem to continue to be sending scouts to evaluate the Yankees catching situation. While I do think Cervelli is the probably the Yankees best trade chip, Romine has started to prove he can be a viable major league backup. We also can’t forget about the Gary Sanchez. He’s nowhere near major league ready, but another season or two in minors and the Yankees could eventually look at him as the backup to Brian McCann in a few years. Getting back to Cervelli, he did sign a one-year non guaranteed deal worth $700,000 this offseason, so after hearing that it seems the Yankees would like to keep him as the backup for this season. Cervelli is out of options, so if he isn’t named the backup or traded, he would be designated for assignment. Again my money is on the Yankees keeping Cervelli, they won’t get big name player for him in return for him anyways. The only reason to keep these rumors on the radar, is if the Yankees end up needing some bullpen help by the end of spring.