Warren Added & Shreve Optioned. Is A Trade In The Works?

To the surprise of many, instead of sending Luis Severino back down to AAA in order to make room for Adam Warren, the Yankees have decided to send Chasen Shreve to Scranton.

Although I lobbied yesterday for Severino to be added back into the rotation, I didn't think it would actually happen tonight. I figured the team would continue to be stubborn, and keep Masahiro Tanaka, Nathan Eovaldi, Michael Pineda, CC Sabathia, and Ivan Nova in the rotation.

Wait... so what is going on?

The Yankees are not going with a six-man rotation. That's been talked about for years, but I just don't see it happening.

I suppose Girardi could use Severino or Warren as a spot-starter, in order to give Tanaka an extra day of rest every once in a while (Hiro's been pitching much better with extra rest). But is it worth keep two long relievers in the bullpen, on the off chance that one of them is needed when the other makes a start? I don't think so.

That begs the question... is somebody getting traded?

I'm going to guess that it's not CC Sabathia. First of all, who would want to pay him around $12 million for the rest of the season, and then take a huge gamble his vesting option goes through for next season and another $25 million? Secondly, I doubt I'm alone in thinking that his early season success was not what's to be expected from here on out (to be fair, I don't think he's as bad as he's been lately, either).

Although I could see the team being willing to trade away either Michael Pineda or Nathan Eovaldi, I don't see that happening. The team wouldn't hold onto an extra long reliever for five or six days, which is the time between now and their next starts.

But I can see the Yankees holding onto both Warren and Severino for a couple games. It could mean overworking one or both of Andrew Miller and Dellin Betances, but with Adam Warren aboard and pretty well rested this season I don't see a real problem.

Therefore, I think either Masahiro Tanaka or Ivan Nova are on the move.

Honestly, I don't see Tanaka going away, although it wouldn't surprise me that much. The Yankees have an eye on the future, and with 'Hiro's opt-out looming, they could very well be thinking of letting him go. Especially if they get another top pitcher in return.

My guess at this time is Brian Cashman has a deal in place to trade Ivan Nova... Friday's starter. That gives them a couple more days to finalize the deal, so that Nova can start for his new team Friday night.

Rumor: Yankees Turned Down Winter Deal Involving Andrew Miller

The New York Yankees were very aggressive this offseason on the trade market making every and any player available in the right deal. The names that were mentioned out loud to the media most often though were Ivan Nova, Brett Gardner and closer Andrew Miller. News broke this week, and I use the word "broke" loosely here, that the Yankees had a deal in place to trade at least one of them and they ultimately declined the deal at the end of the day.

The Houston Astros were looking for a closer for much of the winter and rumor had it that they at least had preliminary discussions with the New York Yankees about Andrew Miller. Ultimately the Astros ended up sending an impressive package of young players to the Philadelphia Phillies over the winter for their closer Ken Giles although before pulling the trigger an identical offer was made to the Yankees for Miller.

Houston ended up sending RHP Vincent Velasquez, RHP Mark Appel, RHP Harold Arauz, LHP Brett Oberholtzer and LHP Thomas Eshelman to Philadelphia for Giles. The Yankees reportedly wanted Lance McCullers Jr. in any deal involving Miller and ultimately turned down the deal from Houston.

I know I'm far from a GM at the Major League level but that would be an awfully hard deal to turn down if I were Yankees GM Brian Cashman. Velasquez was unproven at the time but had shown glimpses of brilliance in a small sample size with Houston in 2015 while Mark Appel is a former 1st round draft pick by Houston and 1st overall pick in the 2013 MLB Draft. Arauz and Eshelman are a pair of A-Ball pitchers with underwhelming stats overall while Oberholtzer is entering his fourth season in the Major Leagues and has yet to break out but this would have been an obvious deal for the future for New York.

Adding Appel to their minor league system alongside James Kaprielian while adding Velasquez to a young rotation alongside Luis Severino would have been great for the Yankees future but I am reserving judgement on whether it was a "good" non-trade or a "bad" non-trade at this time. There are a lot of moving parts here and a lot of young and relatively unproven moving parts in this deal as well. Velasquez could bomb, Appel could never reach his potential etc. etc. etc. These trades are a crap shoot.

Stay tuned for a "winner."