Rumors were flying all afternoon about Ayala, Lannan and Hanrahan.  Zuckerman shot down the Lannan and Hanrahan rumors, but Minaya’s interest in Ayala was still out there as of the 4 pm deadline. 

The one trade that was announced was with the Yankees for Short Stop Alberto Gonzalez, in exchange for Jhonny Nunez.  From the Nats:

Gonzalez, 25, is a plus defensive shortstop who last season was rated as the top defensive infielder in the Yankees’ minor-league system. Gonzalez, who played in 28 games during a pair of stints with the Yankees this season, batted .250 (47-for-188) with eight doubles, four home runs and 23 RBI in 47 games with Scranton/W-B of the Triple-A International League in 2008.
 
Gonzalez was acquired by the Yankees as part of the January 2007 five-player trade that brought Randy Johnson to New York. In 2005, he was rated by Baseball America as the top defensive infielder in Arizona’s minor-league system. At the minor-league level, Gonzalez tallied at least 20 doubles each of the last three seasons and has fanned just once every 8.6 at-bats in five-plus seasons.

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 31st, 2008 at 3:06 pm and is filed under Trade Talks. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.