The New York Yankees will enter the 2013 regular season with a payroll of nearly $200M.  That's a lot of money.  And yet, much of their lineup is better suited for retirement or AAA-Columbus.  Sadly, names like Juan Rivera, Brennan Boesch, Chris Stewart, and Eduardo Nunez are all slated to play major roles on the ‘13 squad.

Something has to be done. This was not a lineup befitting of anything more than a Bronx cheer.

“Something” looks to be another $20M-plus man, this time in the form of Vernon Wells.  Early reports on Sunday evening have the Los Angeles Angels shipping the fourth outfielder and his $42M (owed over the next two seasons) to the New York Yankees.  Wells, 34, will waive his no-trade clause to head back to the AL East.  He spent the past two seasons with the Angels, and enjoyed prior success in the tough AL East with the Toronto Blue Jays over 11 seasons.

Wells will slot in as the Yankees starting left fielder, allowing Brett Gardner to shift over to center field in Curtis Granderson’s absence.  While Wells is no longer a plus defender, he’ll improve the Yankees defence as he’s an upgrade over Boesch.  At the plate, Wells has become one of baseball’s worst hitters, as he’s compiled a lowly 1.1 WAR in 800 ABs over the past-two seasons.  Wells was never known as a patient hitter, but as his bat has slowed, his penchant for first-pitch swings, and high fastballs have become his death knell.

The Angels had been very public in their efforts to rid themselves of Wells.  Originally traded for as a centrepiece to their 2011 offense, Wells had become a fourth outfielder on the Halos.  The emergence of Mike Trout and signing of Josh Hamilton would ensure Wells would not see any real playing time in 2013, and the club still has two years remaining on his hefty contract.

Instead, Wells will move to New York, hoping Broadway can revive his flagging career, much as it has helped fellow outfielder Ichiro Suzuki.  Wells will be moving to a better park, as Yankee Stadium is a notorious hitter park (three-percent offensive improvement over the average ball park) while Anaheim is a pitcher’s best friend (suppresses offense by 4% over the average), so his notoriously high fly ball rate will likely convert to more home runs.  However, Wells’ games has long been on the decline, so there’s no substantive reason to think Manhattan water will be his fountain of youth.

While the Angels will reportedly pay the Yankees all but $13M of Wells remaining ($42M) salary, the full commitment will count against New York’s 2013 payroll.  President Hal Steinbrenner has been very vocal about getting the Yankees under the $189M payroll threshold by the 2014 offseason, as to avoid future luxury tax commitments to the MLB central fund.  This acquisition makes that goal much harder, while likely not getting the club any closer to the 2013 post season.