Getty Yankees trade target Blake Snell
The price for a quality MLB starting pitcher is at a significant high these days, especially after the Astros gave up three quality young prospects to acquire Yusei Kikuchi—he of the 4-9 record and the 4.75 ERA—from the Blue Jays. But a Yankees trade needs to produce a starter anyway, if this roster that has World Series potential is to be pushed over the edge.
That’s the view from longtime MLB writer Jon Heyman of the New York Post, who is urging the Yankees to do more than spruce up a team around the margins. Heyman writes on the morning of the MLB trade deadline that the Yankees will need to be bold in order to reset a wayward starting rotation.
Struggling starter Nestor Cortes, as Heyman has reported, would be traded away if they’re successful.
The Yankees trade candidates all come with asterisks, as does the team’s ability to trade for them. Garrett Crochet won’t pitch in the playoffs without an extension. The Tigers are not looking to move Tarik Skubal, despite fielding offers for him. Jack Flaherty is a rental whose price skyrocketed after the Kikuchi (also a rental) deal. Blake Snell’s tricky contract could come with a huge cap hit.
All valid reasons for the Yankees to skip out on adding a pitcher.
Not valid enough, though, Heyman wrote: “They better do something.”
Yankees Trade Deadline Needs More Than Jazz Chisholm
The Yankees did make a trade already, adding infielder/outfielder Jazz Chisholm to the mix, and inserting him at third base—a position he has never played, but is embracing—on Monday night, when he slugged two home runs. The Yankees also have their eyes on bolstering the bullpen with at least one power arm. Maybe two.
That’s a pretty active set of Yankees trade deadline moves. But it is not enough to win a World Series, or even beat out Baltimore—also active on the trade market—in the AL East.
“This deadline can’t be considered a huge winner if the Yankees only land Chisholm and a reliever or two — even if they somehow outflank the dozen or so teams in the bidding for All-Star-caliber closers Tanner Scott, Kyle Finnegan or Pete Fairbanks,” Heyman wrote in a post titled, “Yankees must make major rotation move despite sky-high price.”
“The Yankees are the marquee franchise of Major League Baseball, they haven’t won or even been to a World Series in 15 years and (Juan) Soto conceivably could head elsewhere after the season (though the New Yorker in me believes he’d be smart to stay). And if they do nothing more, they aren’t even the best team in their own division, much less the league or MLB.”
Prospect Group Just Not Strong Enough for Major Trade
The Yankees are handcuffed by a mediocre group of prospects that was watered down by the trade they made to bring in Soto from the Padres in the first place. If they can’t succeed in the playoffs, the chances that Soto leaves in free agency next winter goes up. There’s double pressure, then, to win now.
It could cost the Yankees No. 2 prospect Spencer Jones. Or it could cost them top pitching prospect Chase Hampton. It could—no, will—cost them a lot. But Heyman writes they need to bet the farm on Crochet or Snell, even with the risk those two pitchers entail.
At the very least, they need to grab Flaherty, who is also being eyed by the Orioles, a team blessed with a much deeper and more talented farm system.
It will cost the Yankees, but they don’t have many other options.
“They need to bolster their rotation in a big way, not just because the Orioles (and Dodgers) are the most likely team to do so, but also because they are just not good enough. I get it. The price of doing business isn’t just high, it’s extraordinary. But it’s time to act,” Heyman wrote.