Yankees Trade Partner: The Toronto Blue Jays?

Yeah, you read that correctly and no that is not a typo. The New York Yankees and the Toronto Blue Jays could potentially line up for a trade before the August 1^st trading deadline if all the stars align and all the right cards fall into the right place. The Blue Jays are looking to defend their American League East Division crown but they will need some starting pitching if they want to do it and scouts for the team were inside Yankee Stadium watching and taking notes this week and they were specifically looking at Yankees veteran CC Sabathia. Yes, again you read that correctly and no, again, that is not a typographical error. The Jays might want to take on Big CC.

Now there are quite a few obstacles that the Yankees and Blue Jays would have to hurdle to accommodate such a trade which makes this unlikely to happen but I feel like it’s still worth a discussion. First CC Sabathia has a full no-trade clause and even if he didn’t he has ten-and-five rights so he can refuse a trade to all of the other 29 teams in Major League Baseball and there isn’t much the Yankees can do about it. Let’s say New York does approach CC about a trade and he does accept a potential deal to Toronto, do the Blue Jays have what it takes to land CC or would New York simply be selling low on Sabathia. And one final question I don’t have an answer for yet, would it be worth it for New York to deplete their pitching depth even more and add even more of a strain on their already over-worked bullpen?

This is a developing story but it may be just a developing story due to due diligence. I can’t see Sabathia accepting a trade out of New York, especially to Toronto after the debacle in the streets and on the balcony of his hotel room last season, and this trade just doesn’t pass the sniff test. I know the pitching market is expected to be thin this trading season and I know Sabathia has looked much improved in 2016 over his last two-or-three seasons but that is an awful lot of money and an awful lot of risk for Toronto to take on as long as the likes of Nathan Eovaldi, Michael Pineda, Rich Hill are still on the board.

Stay tuned.