"Bobby is a good fit for us right now at a position where we were trying to find something on a day-to-day situation," Yankees manager Joe Torre said. "What he brings to the table certainly helps us."

"We talked to Bobby a week to 10 days and got a pretty good indication on the clubs he would go to," Gillick said. "And most of the players of his caliber want to go to contending clubs. So we had a group to work with and were fortunate to make this deal with the Yankees."

"This club is fighting for everything it can get and I wanted to do my part to help them," Cashman said. "Before the trade was made I needed to see if our owner (George Steinbrenner) was willing to step up like he has so many times in the past and he did once again."

"It is hard to prepare (for a trade)," Abreu said. "You have some friends over here, being here in this organization for many years (nine). This organization gave me the opportunity to play the game and show I can play in the big leagues. They have treated me good."

"I was in Philadelphia for nine years and received plenty of support," Abreu said. "If it was up to me I wouldn't leave here but baseball is a business."