Jaret Wright reportedly will be staying in the AL East next season -- but not with the Yankees.
New York will trade the right-handed starting pitcher to the Baltimore Orioles, according to newspaper reports out of New York and Baltimore.
The Baltimore Sun, citing two Orioles sources, is reporting that Baltimore will send reliever Chris Britton to the Yankees for Wright and $4 million, the amount it would have cost the Yankees to buy out Wright's contract.
The trade won't become official until the commissioner's office signs off on the deal, since more than $1 million in cash is being exchanged, the newspaper reported.
Wright, a right-hander who turns 31 next month, has been a disappointment in two seasons with the Yankees. He was 5-5 with a 6.08 ERA in 2005, when he injured a shoulder and was limited to 13 starts, then went 11-7 with a 4.49 ERA this year, only rarely lasting past the sixth inning.
The trade will leave Chien-Ming Wang and Randy Johnson, coming off back surgery, as the only definite returning starting pitchers for the Yankees, likely to be joined by Mike Mussina.
While the Yankees have until Wednesday to decide on Mussina's $17 million option, which has a $1.5 million buyout, the team and the pitcher's agent have been discussing a new two-year contract in the $20 million to $25 million range.
Yankees general manager Brian Cashman admitted Thursday that the team can't count on Carl Pavano, who hasn't pitched for the Yankees since June 2005 because of shoulder, backs, buttocks, elbow and rib injuries.
Britton was 0-2 with a 3.35 ERA and one save in 52 games for the Orioles in 2006.
