Yankees must trade Shelley Duncan, NOW!

I don’t know how Shelley Duncan feels right now, but if I were him, I would want out of the Yankees organization. With an overflow of outfielders and an all-star caliber first basemen on the Yankees roster, there is not nearly enough room for Duncan to join the team.

If his numbers for Triple-A Scranton don’t scream to you that he’s ready for a promotion, I don’t know what does. He leads the International League in home runs by 7 (21), RBIs by 12 (67) and slugging percentage by .041 (.598).

Duncan was drafted by the Yankees in the second round of the 2001 amateur draft, and eventually made his major league debut in 2007. Duncan provided a nice power surge for the Yankees that year, but then struggled in 2008 with inconsistent playing time.

Don’t get me wrong, I would love to see Duncan in pinstripes again. It just seems to me that he is a wasting away his career in the minors while he could benefit a big league club today and help the Yankees in the process. He’s almost 30 years old, and he belongs on a major league roster.

If the Yankees traded him away right now, they could get a quality prospect in return or maybe even a starting pitcher now that Chien-Ming Wang is headed for the disabled list.