The New York Yankees and Chicago Cubs hooked up at the Winter
Meetings in Nashville for a trade that sent Adam Warren and Brendan Ryan to
Chicago for second baseman Starlin Castro. That much we do know but with every
trade the fans want to know who “won” the trade. That much we don’t know, at
least I don’t think we know it yet. The problem with being a Yankees blogger
and a Yankees fan is that the lines between the two get blurred sometimes. My
fandom, as I like to call it, for both Warren and the now bench/demoted Robert
Refsnyder, was absolutely getting in the way of my level headed thinking when
the trade was announced Tuesday night. Now that I’ve had a few days to digest
the trade I come back with a level head ready to analyze this trade for you
all.
With this trade there are going to be a lot of what if’s and
projections used and a lot will be left up to interpretation. That’s what
happens when you send one young guy to a team for another young guy. New York
didn’t trade Andrew Miller or Brett Gardner here for an established veteran
piece, we don’t know what either party will receive in 2016. At best, and this
may be just my opinion but many things I have read agree with it, Adam Warren
is a #3 starter. At worst Warren is a weapon out of the bullpen that can give
the Cubs two or three innings on Monday and save a game for them on Friday. Castro,
at best, is one of the best offensive second baseman in all of Major League
Baseball and at worst he’s yet another .240 hitter with occasional pop and
questionable, at best, defense.
Is a #3 starter worth one of the best offensive second
baseman in the league for four seasons? Absolutely, every day of the week.
That’s like sending Michael Pineda to the St. Louis Cardinals for Kolten Wong
or Matt Carpenter right now straight up. You make that deal every day of the
week. Warren is a free agent before the 2019 season after posting a 7-7 record
and 3.29 ERA in 17 starts and 26 relief appearances in 2015. Castro, on the
other hand, hit .353 after being benched and moved to second base in Chicago
while hitting 10 home runs for the Cubs.
At best Robert Refsnyder could be the best Castro that
Castro could be. At worst he could be yet another .240 hitter with occasional
pop and questionable, at best, defense. Castro projects to be a much better
player than Refsnyder and I get that you’re buying his age 26-29 seasons, also
known as most of his prime, but the trade seems redundant in my eyes RIGHT NOW.
This move could lead towards other moves, moves including Refsnyder, which
improve the team. Guess you’ll just have to stay tuned. Right now though I am
still on the fence. I think Cashman got good value out of Warren and Ryan, I
think he will end up “winning” this trade, but I don’t see it as the humungous
upgrade at second base that everyone else is thinking that it is.
Just would like to Add that Warren has been one of our most consistent pitchers the last 3 seasons. It's not like how we traded high on Shane Greene (his rookie season) and David Phelps (after a few low seasons) previously.
ReplyDeleteBoth in the rotation and in the bullpen, that's what makes losing Warren so hard. We've seen so many arms get ruined, Joba Chamberlain and Phil Hughes for example, from bouncing back and forth between the rotation and the bullpen and when we finally find one (grow one) that can do it well we trade him. Trade still seems redundant to me.
DeleteWe absolutely sold high on Shane Greene. Greene was miserable this season and ended it in AAA while we got Didi. #4 pitchers are never as valuable as every day starting shortstops. Never.
Phelps was upgraded into Eovaldi. Using just one season as an indicator, and I hate to do that, the Yankees got the better end of the stick. Phelps was injured and was unimpressive in the National League. Even if Eovaldi under-performed to his stats, and he did, he was still a better pitcher than Phelps was and it wasn't even close.