TRADES & STRATEGIC THOUGHTS ON THE NEW YORK YANKEES

Last week you read A MUST READ ON THE STATE OF THE NEW YORK YANKEES. I was fired up... here's the second part of my thought process. A strategic look at fixing the New York Yankees.

We will then need to trade some of our current players if we ever want to make a run for anything in the future of this team!

Trade Luke Voit: Luke Voit will still have value as a lower salary guy that led the majors in homers in 2020. Then how about we get something for him. Prospects!

Trade Clint Frazier and Miguel Andujar: Look, we all like these guys but it's time to cut bait on these two former top prospects. It’s not happening for them here in the Bronx. I realize value not very high right now, so not expecting much, but let’s get some future prospects and see what happens.

Consider a Gleyber Torres Trade: I am not opposed to trading Torres. The Yanks had a plan to put him at 2B, but this creates a problem if we sign a first baseman like Freeman for example. If DJ is not playing 1B and Gleyber is at 2B and a new shortstop is there, but a Seager, then the Yankees have only 1 spot for DJ and Urshela. I think I would consider dealing Gleyber and keeping DJ at 2B and Urshela at 3B. I wouldn’t give him away for nothing, but if we could land a decent catcher (more on that below), we may need to do that. The Yanks probably need to trade Gleyber or Urshela because no way DJ is not going to start and play every day somewhere on the infield.

Consider Trade of Gary Sanchez: A very tough call here...what to do at catcher? In a perfect world, the Yanks need to upgrade defensively over Sanchez. His defense is very bad and he is not hitting enough (.204 or lower in 3 of the past 4 years) to make this bad defense worthwhile. The problem is there is not a clear alternative. Higashioka is a very good defensive catcher, so he is probably our best alternative, but he hit .181. If Yanks could get a Wilson Contreras from the Cubs, perhaps in a trade that includes Sanchez (plus more of course), it might be worth doing. The Yanks probably need to move on from Sanchez, but they are not going to do it if they don’t feel there is a viable alternative that can hit over .200. I think if they get all the offense that I suggested, it would be fine to cut bait with Sanchez (perhaps even non-tender him) and go with Higashioka as their top catcher next season.

Other thoughts on 2021:

The Bullpen: I really loved our bullpen by the end of the season. Britton is gone, but Chapman seemed to return to form and after that was a lot of depth. Loaiziga is amazing. Green had some rough games, but is still a very good reliever. Clay Holmes looked amazing and was a great find by Cashman (his best move of the season was getting Clay Holmes) for nothing. Michael King was great as well and his future as a reliever looks very promising. I liked what I saw from Wandy Peralta as a lefty out of the pen as well. Yanks have a lot of depth and options here to have a great bullpen in 2022 without having to make any additions. Chapman, of course, was shaky at times, but he will close again in 2022 but with numerous options to take his closer role (likely Loaiziga) if he falters.

The Starters: After Cole, the Yankees will seemingly finally get Severino back in 2022 as a real #2 starter. They have plenty of options here for the 3, 4 and 5 starters with the surprising year from Nestor Cortez (2.90 ERA), solid work from Jordan Montgomery (3.83 in 30 starts), and some good work at times from German and Taillon. Since they probably won’t follow my plan to fix the offense with Seager, Freeman and Marte, they may try to go get another top starter. Interesting that Verlander, Kershaw, and Max Scherzer will be available as free agents, so that might be something they consider. 

After Cole, the other starters had trouble going deep into games. Cortes was basically a 5 inning pitcher and Montgomery not much more than that. The Yanks could use someone aside from Cole to get them 7 innings regularly to preserve that great bullpen and keep them fresh for October. Hoping Sevy can get to that point next year, but hard to predict that. Obviously, the most important thing the Yanks need with pitching is for Cole to be dominant like he is supposed to be (unlike his final two starts this season, including his terrible Wild Card performance).

Philosophy: After 5 years of failure in the post-season, the Yanks philosophy has not worked! 

The idea of loading up with guys that hit dingers and strikeout a lot is a bad approach. It's why getting Gallo made no sense when you are adding him on top of Judge, Stanton, Voit, and Sanchez. It's why DJ was so great for the Yanks in 2019 and 2020 because he was not that kind of hitter. The Yanks need to get away from this approach. They need more athleticism and speed. I love watching Tyler Wade play because he brings that different style of play to the Yanks that they are utterly lacking when he isn’t in the game. It’s why someone like Marte would help  this team. It’s why someone like Seager is a great fit. It’s why we need to trade Voit and try to replace Sanchez. 

I'm not sure if Cashman realizes this yet or will just keep trying to succeed with his philosophy. If he doesn’t change the philosophy, we will be back here again next year having this same discussion.  Just my opinion of course.

--Douglas Solomon

BYB Guest Writer