Yankees Trade Partners: The Pittsburgh Pirates

The New York Yankees should be in full sell mode right now and they should be shopping anything and everything that is not bolted down. Brian Cashman, the team's general manager, says the team is having both discussions, both about buying and potentially selling, but if the Boston Red Sox series taught us anything it is that the team is spinning their wheels and any talk about buying (unless it is for controllable, young and cheap players that are under contract beyond 2017... which should be common sense at this point and is NOT talking about of both sides of your mouth) is simply a waste of time. The Pittsburgh Pirates have already begun discussing a trade involving starting pitcher Nathan Eovaldi, what are we waiting for?

Pittsburgh and New York and their GM's Neal Huntington and Brian Cashman have a working relationship and have hooked up on multiple trades over the years including deals involving AJ Burnett, Chris Stewart, Francisco Cervelli and others.There aren't many GM's that will seemingly work with Cashnan or help the Yankees so with that obstacle cleared let's make a deal.

Pittsburgh needs starting pitching but they also need bullpen help as well. Jonathan Neise was traded from the Mets to Pittsburgh for Neil Walker this offseason and he has bombed while pitching for Pittsburgh leaving gaping holes in the Pirates rotation. Eovaldi would fill those holes well having to face eight batters and a pitcher every night rather than some of the best hitters on the planet fresh because they are playing the DH position. Throwing in a rental like Aroldis Chapman could spell a blockbuster for New York.

I'm no expert in the Pittsburgh Pirates farm system but I know it is a heavily stocked system that could really help the Yankees. Pittsburgh has six players ranked in the Top 100 according to Baseball America and Eovaldi has a year-and-a-half of team control left in a weak market for pitching. New York could land one or even two of them, albeit the players closer to 100, for Eovaldi alone I would think so adding Chapman may allow New York to land three of them. Pittsburgh isn't known for trading top prospects, especially for rentals and veterans like Chapman, but they aren't used to having a fan base that expects to win and isn't again either.

Ya never know. Well you never know until you ask.