The checklist of major corner outfielders the Yankees have been linked to in the trade market are Bobby Abreu, Carlos Lee and Alfonso Soriano. But do not discount Arizona’s Shawn Green. The Yanks have inquired about the right fielder and a person close to the situation said to play for a contender, Green might chuck his West Coast preference and waive his no-trade clause. The D’backs want to bring up touted prospect Carlos Quentin to replace Green, so they are in a dealing mood.

Green’s power is greatly diminished (eight homers), but he is still a good hitter (.302), adequate defender and his reputation is as a great guy. At $9.5 million next year with a 2008 option for $10 million or a $2 million buyout, he could be a legitimate replacement for Gary Sheffield.

*

For most of the first half, Carlos Gomez appeared a prospect the Mets stupidly rushed from Low-A to Double-A as the 20-year-old battled major platediscipline issues. Omar Minaya said they pushed the five-tool athlete “to challenge him.” Over the last month, the challenge has been met to such a degree that a scout who saw him provided this rave:

“He’s the young Raul Mondesi. He’s the most explosive young player I think I’ve ever seen. I had him 3.9 [seconds] to first from the right-hand side, and he runs it hard every time. He wants to show off his speed. His arm is explosive. I saw him make a catch in the gap where he was playing shallow and had to cover about 70 yards.

He hit a 95 mph fastball in his eyes on a line out of the park. The Good Lord touched him with ability not a lot of folks have. He’s starting to figure out the level, not striking out as much, and he’s just 20.” The sport is hardly universal in its praise for Gomez, but an AL farm director who also saw Gomez recently added, “He showed an adjustment to breaking balls with two strikes, which was impressive for his age and reputation. He has unbridled enthusiasm for the game. For me, he’s on the verge of being an above-average player.” The scout, no fan of Lastings Milledge, said the Mets should trade Milledge because Gomez is better. But those close to Minaya say he sees Milledge as part of the Mets’ core starting next year and would deal him only for Dontrelle Willis.

And Minaya said proudly, “in [18-year-old] Fernando Martinez [hitting .321 at Low-A] we have a kid coming along who could be better than all of them.” The same scout also recently saw Eric Duncan, who not long ago was considered untouchable for the Yanks before struggling so much at Triple-A he had to be demoted to Double-A. His report was hardly glowing:

“You can expand the strike zone on him and get him out all night. He has bat speed and tools to hit, but not an approach to hit.

Defensively, he’s not very good even after being switched to first base. I don’t know how much power he is going to have. I wrote him up as an extra corner utility player/lefty bat. I no longer think he is an every-day guy.”

*

One NL executive said that while Philadelphia GM Pat Gillick loves Aaron Rowand’s defense and passion, the

Phils would trade the center fielder if they could land a top, young starter. Gillick believes Shane Victorino could play every day in center as a replacement.