"THE RUMOR SEASON IS CRAZY"... STARRING GIANCARLO STANTON!

It's the offseason, and there is no baseball fan out there that isn't dreaming up ideas about how to improve their team. I do it all of the time with my Angels fan husband. Baseball insiders also dream up ideas too, but sometimes their dreams are pretty far from reality.

Maybe you have seen Joel Sherman's recent piece, if not you can read it HERE. Nothing wrong with a little creativity, but I think some of these are a little too outside of the box. Sherman ranks the Yankees offseason priorities as re-signing DJ LeMahieu, strengthen the rotation, and look at a possible shortstop replacement so Gleyber Torres can go back to second. All good ideas but he says "BEFORE ANYTHING ELSE" the Yankees should try to trade Giancarlo Stanton even though it could be a "non-starter." HUH? Why waste time on a "non-starter" and risk missing out on LeMahieu or anything else far more realistic?

That's a crazy approach to the offseason but anyway, on to his trade proposals! 

Proposal #1: Send Stanton and a prospect to the Padres for Eric Hosmer and Wil Myers.
The Padres will be contenders moving forward, and the Padres GM likes big names (like Manny Machado) as they continue to build a championship caliber team. The Padres would actually benefit with a bit of savings if this were to happen. Myers and Hosmer will make $40 million over the next two seasons, so they would shed some payroll while the Yankees would actually add more. The Yankees are responsible for $19 million of Stanton's salary, while the Marlins pay the remaining $10 million. The Yankees are rumored to be looking to shed some payroll, not add to it.

And besides the payroll factor, it adds more complication to the Yankees roster. Hosmer adds a valuable lefty bat, but Luke Voit is a much cheaper option and still has a potent bat. Then what about Meyers? He's an outfielder and we have plenty of those. Why spend the extra money when the Yankees have cheaper options already. If the Yankees really needed an outfielder they could just bring back Brett Gardner at a much better price or sign a cheaper free agent. 

Proposal #2: Send Stanton and prospects to the Cubs for Yu Darvish, Jason Heyward and Craig Kimbrel

I don't see why the Cubs would agree to this. The Cubs have other pitchers that are hitting free agency, and Yu Darvish is probably their best starter. If the Cubs know they are likely to lose other starters over the winter trading away a trusted asset doesn't make a lot of sense. There isn't a lot of great pitching on the market this winter, so it makes more sense to hold him and not spend money on a market that isn't as attractive.

Then there is Heyward. First, I am not a big Heyward fan. He's too inconsistent and he's all or nothing. His stats the last few seasons are a roller coaster. I'd rather the Yankees just stick with their options they already have in house, they have a lot of them. As far as Kimbrel goes, he's an expensive reliever who isn't reliable anymore. He used to be good, but those days are gone. If the Yankees needed a reliever, there are better options that cost a lot less. 

I have a hard time with this option because it really doesn't make the Cubs any better, so they have no reason to say "yes" to this trade.

I can't say that either of these options really make sense, but I like to talk baseball. I like trades, rumors and crazy ideas like these. I will read them all, even if I don't agree with them. I like Sherman's creativity, but I think he's lost his marbles with this one.

  --Jeana Bellezza-Ochoa

     BYB Managing Editor

    Twitter: @nyprincessj