Wednesday, June 21, 2017

July 31st Trade Deadline Countdown: Third Base


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. 

1 comment:

  1. 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.
    Maybe he has added some fire to his arm as he has aged...maybe!

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