Chase Headley sucks, Gleyber Torres is injured for the remainder of the 2017 season and the New York Yankees may or may not need a third baseman going forward. The good news for the Bronx Bombers is that the July 31st trade deadline is looming and the countdown, at least here on the blog, has begun. The bad news is that the market for the position looks to be a bit top heavy (aka expensive) and underwhelming (low risk, high reward). Let’s explore what the Yankees could possibly do now that Torres will miss the remainder of the season with Tommy John surgery assuming that Headley continues to struggle at the hot corner.
The names that immediately come to mind in no particular
order when thinking about potential trade targets for the Yankees are the
Angels’ Yunel Escobar, the White Sox’s Todd Frazier, the Royals’ Mike
Moustakas, the Giants’ Eduardo Nunez, the Pirates’ David Freese, the Marlins’
Martin Prado, the Reds’ Eugenio Suarez and the Padres’ Yangervis Solarte. A lot
of these guys, coincidentally, are former Yankees.
The main thing to keep in mind is that the team does not
want to block Torres in or beyond the 2018 season, yes I realize that Headley
is under contract for next season but could be moved to the bench, moved to
first base, traded or designated for assignment, so with that in mind the
Yankees would likely not be as interested in Freese, Solarte, Suarez or Prado
as much as the rest of the bunch since they are not free agents at the end of
the 2017 season.
If the Yankees decide to look internally for a replacement
the team could always call up Tyler Wade as well who has played in 11
minor-league games at the position. It isn’t ideal by any means but Wade would
be the third baseman in theory, the team could always have Ronald Torreyes play
there with Wade on the bench or have Starlin Castro play there with either
Torreyes or Wade, who is a natural shortstop, man the second base position.
Wade would at least give the Yankees options in the field, although he may struggle
with the bat a bit.
There’s plenty of options out there both internally and via
the trade market. Some options will likely cost the Yankees a lot in terms of
prospects (Moustakas for example) while some could be had for minimal expenditures
(Prado would be the ultimate salary dump for a struggling Marlins squad). What
the Yankees will do when the dust settles remains to be seen though so I guess
you’re all going to have to stay tuned.
Castro doesn't have the arm for 3rd base, at least I have not seen it. That is one of the reasons he was moved from SS and the Yankees quit his work outs at 3rd for the team last year.
ReplyDeleteMaybe he has added some fire to his arm as he has aged...maybe!