Yankees Eying Vernon Wells?

From Anthony McCarron:

Next up on the Yankees’ winter shopping list is a righthanded-hitting outfielder, and the Angels’ Vernon Wells reportedly is a potential trade target.

The Yankees and the Angels discussed a possible deal for Wells at the baseball winter meetings in Nashville, according to a report Saturday on FoxSports.com.

The Yanks are also prowling the free-agent market in search of a righty bat to complement their all-lefty outfield of Curtis Granderson, Brett Gardner and Ichiro Suzuki. Ichiro has agreed to a two-year, $13 million contract that will become official once he takes a physical and some contract language is completed.

The Yankees have interest in Scott Hairston, who hit 20 homers for the Mets last year. They might be a match with the Angels for a trade because the Halos just signed Josh Hamilton and now have a glut of outfielders, meaning the 34-year-old Wells could be available.

Wells is due to make $21 million in both 2013 and 2014, which does not fit into the Yankees’ plan to drop their payroll under the luxury tax threshold of $189 million by 2014. So it’s likely that the Yanks would want the Angels to eat much of the contract. Wells’ contract has a no-trade clause, but he waived it for the trade that sent him from Toronto to Anaheim before the 2011 season.

I supposed a right-handed outfielder would help, but I can't see the Angels picking up that much of his salary. Well hit .230/.279/.403 with 11 HR in 77 games for the Angels last year, and hit .218/.248/.412 with 25 homers in 131 games in 2011.