Who will the Yankees get to play left field?

On the surface trading Melky Cabrera for Javier Vazquez clears the way for Johnny Damon to re-sign with the Yankees, but Joel Sherman of the New York Post reports that they still view him as “too expensive” after last week’s back-and-forth with agent Scott Boras. Sherman also notes that parting with Cabrera probably doesn’t make the Yankees any more likely to end up with Jason Bay or Matt Holliday. So if Damon, Bay, and Holliday still aren’t likely options, who might the Yankees be targeting to play left field? Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News names Mark DeRosa as “the most likely candidate,” noting that he could start in left field while also providing some infield depth behind Alex Rodriguez at third base. According to Feinsand the Yankees “have roughly $5-6 million to spend on left field.” DeRosa was initially said to be seeking a three-year deal for quite a bit more than that to begin the offseason, but recently there have been reports of his asking price coming down and the Yankees were actually linked to him several weeks ago despite having no obvious place for him to play at the time. DeRosa hit just .250/.319/.433 in 2009 while battling a wrist injury, but his .291/.368/.453 line from the previous three seasons would be solidly above average in left field.