People Are Actually Upset About Turning Down the Jason Heyward Blockbuster?

The New York Yankees fan is a unique and special fan because of their passion and their love for the team. Most fans I know are the truest of true fans and they bleed Yankees blue just like me. While I mean the utmost respect when I call you fans passionate, special and unique there is a con for every pro for almost everything in this world. One of the cons about being passionate about this team is that you want the best 25 players on the roster at all times and you want a World Series victory at all times, heck I do too to be completely honest, but sometimes you have to step back and look at the bigger picture. The news that the New York Yankees turned down a mega blockbuster deal with the Atlanta Braves before the 2015 season is the perfect example of this because I can’t believe the outrage I am seeing from some fans directed towards the team and Brian Cashman.

First and foremost this is all speculation, I obviously have no insight or inside information with the players, the team and the GM but you have to think that Jason Heyward was going to hit free agency either way this offseason. He’s 26-years old and he was going to want to test the market and get a boatload of money to future proof his and his family’s life. The Yankees would essentially have had Heyward for one season with no real place to put him. Jacoby Ellsbury, Brett Gardner and Carlos Beltran were all healthy and under contract at the time and Alex Rodriguez was at the DH position, so where does everyone even play? Also these talks happened before the Yankees acquired Didi Gregorius from the Arizona Diamondbacks in a three-team trade. I’m sorry but if Didi hits half as well as he did after the first two months of the season, he hit .297 FYI, then he would be a huge upgrade over Andrelton Simmons. No contest.

The Yankees farm system would once again be decimated by this trade. Heyward for one season and a draft pick, Hal Steinbrenner proved this winter he was not going to pay Heyward… he had every chance to so this is not speculation, plus Chris Johnson, a third baseman New York could have had for just money on the free agent market and once again passed on, David Carpenter, who the Yankees got anyway and designated for assignment, for the low, low price of Luis Severino, Aaron Judge, Ian Clarkin, Gary Sanchez and Manny Banuelos. Where would the Yankees be if they made this trade? A lot farther from the light at the end of the tunnel and in a lot more trouble this season than they may or may not be already. That’s where!

Be passionate, be opinionated but once you calm down think it through Yankees family. This trade would have been extremely short-sighted and would have been the kind of trade that Yankees fans everywhere have been wanting to get away from for years. This is a good thing that this didn’t go down and frankly I am glad that Brian Cashman, Hank Steinbrenner or whoever declined to make the deal. Have a plan and stick to it, the new Yankees way.