Everyone Likes A Good Trade

The first pot has boiled on the hot stove with Jordan Zimmermann reportedly signing with the Detroit Tigers. With the Winter Meetings starting December 6th, other signings and trades are bound to take place soon. I played GM and examined the Yankees Major League and Minor League rosters for players that I think could be traded during the offseason. Not included on this list are the big three prospects of Luis Severino, Greg Bird and Aaron Judge. I have not included them because I consider the chances of them being traded extremely slight. Let's get started.

1. Andrew Miller -  He is coming off a season in which he won the Mariano Rivera AL Reliever of the Year Award. He has three years left on his contract at a salary below that of the going market rate for closers.
2. Brett Gardner - The Yankees have already discussed trading him with multiple teams. As detailed in my previous post he could be traded because of age, contract duration and salary.
3. Ivan Nova - He is a proven back-end to mid-rotation starter who would be appealing to teams that are looking to upgrade their pitching staff but aren't in the market for an ace.
4. Jorge Mateo - One of the Yankees top prospects they already have shown a willingness to deal him. He is young and could make an impact soon. Scouting reports indicate that he could stick at shortstop or make the seamless transition to second base in the future.
5. Gary Sanchez - His Arizona Fall League performance opened up some eyes, and he had a solid rebound season in the minors. Currently, he is number two on the catching depth chart after the John Ryan Murphy - Aaron Hicks trade but he would make an intriguing trade piece.
6. Rob Refsnyder - His late season audition was short but successful. His success in September put himself in a position to start the 2016 season on a Major League roster. Middle infielders who can hit are hard to come by which could make him a nice trade piece as part of a bigger deal.
7. Ian Clarkin - He missed the 2015 season due to a mysterious elbow injury but he is 21, and scouting reports peg him as having the upside of the number two starter with two plus pitches including a fastball and 12-6 changeup. He might not be the centerpiece of a trade but would make an excellent complimentary piece in a larger trade.
8. Eric Jagielo - Still one of the Yankees top prospects despite some setbacks he'll be appealing to teams looking to buy low on a third baseman or first baseman.
9. Bryan Mitchell - He'll be 25 during the 2016 season and has great velocity. His command needs improvement, but a team looking for young pitching with high upside could target him.
10. Jacoby Ellsbury - He has been productive when healthy, and the Yankees would likely kick in some money to get out of the contract so teams in need of centerfield help would at least check in.

Now that I've put together my list of tradeable assets I pose the question to you, who is on your list of players that Yankees could be traded during the offseason?

Most Popular Article of the Week: Could the Yankees Take a Prospect in Rule 5 Draft?

The 2015 version of the Rule 5 Draft goes down on December, 10 and the New York Yankees recently added three of their own prospects to the 40 man roster to protect them from the draft. Adding Johnny Barbato, Ben Gamel and Rookie Davis to the roster filled up the 40 man roster but the Yankees have plenty of time to make a trade and plenty of players they can potentially outright off the 40 man roster or designate for assignment. Long story short the Yankees could make a move and actually take a player in the Rule 5 Draft... but who would that be?

Corey Black is the right-handed pitcher that the Yankees sent to the Chicago Cubs in the deal that brought Alfonso Soriano back to the Bronx. Now the circle can complete after Chicago left Black unprotected and off the 40 man. Black throws hard and is a big strikeout guy, which the Yankees like, but his walk totals are troubling.

Reymin Guduan is another mid-to-high 90's heat thrower that struggles with command and was left unprotected by the Houston Astros. The Yankees have so many left-handed relief pitching options though so I can't see this happening.

Throw Sam Selman of the Kansas City Royals into that category as well as he can hit 97 MPH on the gun.... he just doesn't always know where it's going.

The final piece, and one of the more notable pieces in my opinion, is the New York Mets shortstop prospect T.J. Rivera. Rivera has hit well in the minor leagues but has yet to reach the Major Leagues. The issue that intrigued me most is that Rivera is that he has experience at all four infield positions and plays them all well. Upgrade over Brendan Ryan?

ICYMI:Torii Hunter Gives Advice to Aaron Hicks

The New York Yankees acquired a young and talented center fielder by the name of Aaron Hicks this offseason in the trade that sent John Ryan Murphy to the Minnesota Twins. Already we’ve heard rave reviews of Hicks in regards to his defense, his speed and his up-and-coming back. Hicks credits his turnaround season in 2015 to a phone call from one Hall of Fame player, Rod Carew, and now the young switch-hitter may be able to look back and credit his 2016 season success to a discussion with a potential future Hall of Fame player, Torii Hunter.


Hunter, a longtime Twins player, revealed this winter some advice that he gave who he called an “immature” Hicks in hopes of helping him for the remainder of his career. Hicks has played in the majors for three seasons now and it is likely not a coincidence that his best and breakout season came in 2015 with Hunter as a teammate.


Torii signed a one year deal with the Twins knowing that 2015 was his final season and opened himself up to any and all questions that the young Minnesota players may have had. Hunter notes that no player was more receptive to the advice and help than Hicks. Hunter took Hicks under his wing and in an interview with the New York Post Twins manager Paul Molitor even noted that Torri “took it personally to help Aaron.”


Hunter focused more on the mental side of the game rather than the physical side with Hicks. The tools are there are Aaron, Hunter thought the mental aspect needed some help. Hunter would tell Hicks to “be warm before it was time to be warm” and “be loose before it was time to be loose” so he could pay attention to who was pitching and look at the game with a “third eye.”


Hicks is trying to be the 2016 version of both Nathan Eovaldi and Didi Gregorius. With all the Yankees coaching staff, trainers, staff and teammates by his side and the wisdom of a Torii Hunter and a Rod Carew in his head how could he not succeed?

Yankees and Red Sox Two Worst Run Organizations in MLB?

I don't tend to read much about other teams, I'm a Yankees fan and they eat up a significant amount of my reading time and I prefer it that way, but for whatever reason when I saw an article on "Chowder Champions" I decided to give it a read. The title of the post intrigued me, it stated that the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox were the two worst run organizations in all of Major League Baseball. Here is my review of this post SEEN HERE.

The general gist of this article is comparing teams like Boston and New York to the teams that have won the World Series over the last six seasons and, of course, comparing their payrolls to the Yankees and Red Sox. Naturally the homegrown talent argument was made as well as the author of the article pointed out that these teams that won the World Series (Royals-2015, Giants- 2010, 2012, 2014, Red Sox-2013, and the Cardinals in 2011) relied heavily on prospects while New York and Boston traded all their away. What seems to be most important to the author here is who won the World Series MVP during those years and points out that all were homegrown but two, David Ortiz in 2013 who was a product of the Minnesota Twins system, David Freese in 2011 and Edgar Renteria when he won the award with San Francisco in 2010.

I'm not seeing a direct correlation here. Comparing the markets and how the organizations are run in Kansas City to New York and Boston is foolish. Comparing smaller and mid-level market teams to huge markets are foolish because of the demand of the fan base. The Yankees are not the Kansas City Royals and the fan base is not going to settle for 30 seasons of losing. New York and Boston are not the financial juggernauts by losing for 30 seasons. Also Boston and New York are not drafting first overall and at the top of the draft year in and year out thanks to 30 years of losing. Boston and New York are the "worst run" because they win, overall, year in and year out? Um, no?

Also the article states letting Robinson Cano was a huge mistake. Why? Because he was homegrown? Ignoring the fact that he was 31-years old and wanted a 10 year deal worth $240 million? Signing him to that deal, a similar deal the Yankees are often criticized for that Alex Rodriguez is finally finishing up, would make the team one of the worst run organizations in all of Major League Baseball.

This article mentions money and thinks its a direct correlation to winning. That's not the way Major League Baseball is anymore. MLB is now known for its parity and their young guns. Both the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees are in the midst of rebuilds and re-tooling of the organization and the big league club. Also when you mention two badly run organizations due to payroll and subsequent World Series victories and fail to mention the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, both Chicago teams, the Philadelphia Phillies and the Los Angeles Dodgers you fail. Fail on many levels.

You had something here and you got me to read you work, probably your ultimate goal, so good work with that. You also cemented the fact that I won't be reading another any time soon. You're an obvious Yankees hater and that's okay if you make your case, you didn't.

Miami Is Shopping Marcell Ozuna?

I've been reluctant to write about this only because I haven't seen any concrete evidence that Miami is willing to sell. This is the offseason though, the time to dream, so for the sake of this blog post let's say that the Miami Marlins and Jeffrey Loria are willing to sell off a major young piece in Marcell Ozuna, should the Yankees be interested?

I like to keep this blog "PG" so excuse me for this, but HELL YES. Ozuna is a right-handed center fielder that projects to have 30 home run power in his Major League career. Ozuna is just 25-years old and has four years of team control including all of his arbitration years. Why would the Marlins, a team that handed outfielder Giancarlo Stanton a huge contract with a promise to compete for the life of it, want to trade Ozuna? Apparently there is some bad blood between owner Jeffrey Loria and their stud center fielder.

I'm not sure if you guys heard about it or not but the Marlins sent Ozuna down this season with the reasoning that they were hoping the demotion could turn around slumping season. Coincidentally the Marlins could delay his arbitration by a season if Ozuna spent at least five weeks in the minors in 2015 and Ozuna spent six weeks in Triple-A, just to be sure. That's all speculation until the recorded phone call between owner Loria and team president David Samson  hit the internet. SEE HERE for the actual audio but the important piece is below:

Female voice: “Scott Boras is on the line.”

Male voice: “Let me tell ya, tell Boras that his client is getting demoted, and that his client is a fat, [unintelligible] lazy, Dominican fuck.”

Wow if true, and wow if it's about Ozuna. No wonder Scott Boras and Ozuna are unhappy with the Marlins organization and no wonder why the Marlins want to trade him. Miami is doing this all wrong though, rather than waiting for all this to hit the internet thus lowering Ozuna's trade value they waited too long. Miami's screw up can be New York's gain.

Miami wants young starting pitching back for Ozuna and the Yankees have some, maybe not enough. I wouldn't give up Luis Severino for Ozuna but truth be told I would allow Nathan Eovaldi to head back to Miami and I would also lead a package with Michael Pineda. If the team is interested is Bryan Mitchell or Rookie Davis then let them go, Ozuna is a special talent. The problem is Seattle is said to be offering Taijuan Walker for Ozuna as we speak, New York may not be willing to bite that bullet and match.

Either way adding Ozuna to the Yankees continues to make the team younger, cheaper and absolutely leads to a Brett Gardner trade. The lineup is balanced, power is added and overall I think the team is exponentially better. It's a dream, every team is going to be interested in Ozuna, but Cashman hasn't worn his ninja costume in a while either... so maybe.

Jose Reyes: Pros and Cons to a Trade

The New York Yankees may or may not be happy with the idea of a Robert Refsnyder and Dustin Ackley platoon at second base this season. We all watched last offseason as Martin Prado was essentially written in stone at the position before the team traded the utility man to Miami in the Nathan Eovaldi trade. Refsnyder fans everywhere rejoiced thinking the Korean-born rookie would receive the starting job only to see the team sign Stephen Drew to a one-year deal worth $5 million. I said all that to say this, Refsnyder starting is no guarantee and will be no guarantee until I see it with my own two eyes on Opening Day. Until then Cashman could do anything to fill the position including a trade for the Colorado Rockies shortstop Jose Reyes.

PROS:

Defensive upgrade over the platoon

Likely an offensive upgrade over the platoon as well

Can handle the New York market and media

Would come CHEAP after domestic violence suit

He's already asked out of Colorado once

Averages an annual 3.0 WAR throughout his career

CONS:

$22 million AAV through the 2018 season including team options

Reyes is 32 years old and will be 33 by mid-season

Deal runs through Reyes' age 35 season

Injury prone in 2013 and 2015 combining for just 219 games played

Did you say domestic violence suit... in Hawaii?

You decide. Is it worth? Leave it below in the comments section.

This Day In New York Yankees History 11/30: Jeter Wins Another Award

On this day in 2009 the Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter was named Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year. The Yankees captain would be the first Yankee to ever be named the winner of the award since SI started giving out the award in 1954.

Also on this day in 2000 the New York Yankees signed Mike Mussina to a six year deal worth $88.5 million stealing him from the rival Baltimore Orioles. Mussina would stay with the Yankees through the 2008 season and finally get his 20 win season in pinstripes before riding off into the sunset.

Finally on this day in 1952 Jackie Robinson went on a New York television show accusing the Yankees of being racist for not having a black player on their team. The Yankees would not sign a black baseball player until three years later when they signed Elston Howard, nine years after Jackie broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball.