The August 31st trading deadline is a shade over
a week away and the New York Yankees have roughly $4 million to play with while
still staying under the luxury tax threshold of $197 million.
Andrew McCutchen has been placed on revocable waivers and,
at the time of this writing anyway, he had yet to clear waivers. Assuming he
does, and with his salary he should, the San Francisco Giants outfielder could come
to New York along with his roughly $3.23 million left on his deal for the 2018
season. McCutchen would be a true rental meaning the Yankees wouldn’t give up
anything of significance for the veteran outfielder. Personally, I’d love
McCutchen in pinstripes and he would be my top trade target since Aaron Judge
won’t be back any time soon.
Curtis Granderson is in a similar situation but has already
cleared waivers and would eat up less of the Yankees available cap room with
his $1.1 million in salary still to be paid. Acquiring Granderson instead of
McCutchen would give the Yankees some wiggle room to add a relief pitcher if
they deemed it possible.
If the Yankees decided to get Granderson instead of
McCutchen the team could conceivably also acquire Kelvin Herrera of the
Washington Nationals, who are now selling off veteran rental pieces. Herrera is
a free agent at season’s end and is owed roughly $1.7 million for the remainder
of the season. Herrera has not pitched well for the Nationals since the Kansas
City Royals traded him to Washington this June, but he has a proven veteran
track record that signals that he is more than likely to turn it around. He has
to be better than AJ Cole, right?
Oh, and by the way I wanted to address something that really
bothers me. To all the fans who say the Yankees are “cheap” and not committed
to winning. Go root for the Pittsburgh Pirates, the New York Mets, the Miami
Marlins, the Tampa Bay Rays or even a team like the Oakland Athletics who may
have a good season or two of competing, but then see all their players leave
via trades or free agency because their owners and organizations won’t spent
$197 million and are too cheap to hold onto their good, young talent. Rant
over.
Bryan Van Dusen wrote a good piece recently that the correlation between winning and money that I thought was excellent. Winning = Money I believe was the reference he used for anyone who ignorantly believes the Steinbrenner family is only interested in money. I knew both of you guys would prefer not to see a reunion with the Grandy Man, but he is more appealing to me than McCutcheon only because you could still add another piece. McCutcheon pretty much takes up any remaining dollars. The Giants don't have the ability to eat any of the contract with their own payroll limitations.
ReplyDeleteI agree, and made mention of that in the article. It's either McCutchen, or Granderson and a relief arm like Herrera. I'd frankly be okay with either since Justus Sheffield is joining the bullpen soon, but until Cashman does something I expect neither to happen.
Delete