The Yankees are interested in Jhonny Peralta

So far this offseason the Yankees have re-jiggered Derek Jeter’s contract and signed Brendan Ryan. What’s one more shortstop among friends?

Yankees expressing interest in free agent Jhonny Peralta, sources tell @Ken_Rosenthal and me. @FOXSportsLive

— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) November 18, 2013

Of course Peralta could play third base as a hedge against an A-Rod suspension. And he can play shortstop in the case of a Jeter-is-hurt/Jeter-is-old/Ryan-can’t-hit combo. All of which are fairly likely.

If the Yankees are in on Peralta, you have to figure they’re in on Stephen Drew too, and would go for one or the other. Or maybe their whole offseason plan hinges on signing every single possible shortstop and letting God sort it out.

Here’s a rumor from yesterday afternoon that sort of fell through the cracks, but it’s fun enough to think about for a few moments: Ken Rosenthal reports that the Dodgers and Reds have had “multiple” trade discussions involving Yasiel Puig.

Puig is a potential trade candidate, either (a) because he’s “disgruntled,” according to Dylan Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times last week; or (b) because the Dodgers want to clear salary and roster spots in order to sign a big-name player, according to Rosenthal here. Many people suspect that the Dodgers are going to make a run at Bryce Harper, for example, and if that’s the case they’d no doubt want to open up right field for him.

It seems questionable that any Reds-Dodgers talks would get a ton of traction, especially given that Rosenthal reports that there’s a possibility of the Dodgers taking on Reds pitcher Homer Bailey and the $28 million he’s still owed in order to get some talent back from the Reds in a trade. That would seem to defeat the purpose of unloading Puig’s salary, but this is the sort of things we all talk about now given that the league has, more or less, a defacto salary cap imposed by the Competitive Balance Tax.

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