By JOSH HELLER
Executive Editor
After many years of thinking the Yankees are contending, year after year, the front office finally got it right, and the Yankees are exciting again.
It’s been a whirlwind for about a month in the Bronx. It all kicked off on July 25, when the Yankees stood at 51-48, seven and a half games back in the American League East, and four and a half games back in the American League Wild Card. With a surplus at the back of the bullpen, the Yankees felt they could spare a piece or two, so they sent controversial reliever Aroldis Chapman to the Cubs.
The Yankees traded for Chapman back in December, knowing they wouldn’t look good from a PR perspective, and knowing he would be suspended for a little while; but they didn’t care and went through with the deal. From a purely baseball perspective, it wasn’t a bad move for the Yankees. But many people found it hard to root for the team when they were employing Chapman.
When Chapman was suspended for just the first month, this meant that the 2016 season would count on Chapman’s MLB service time, so if the Yankees wanted him in 2017, they’d have to re-sign him. With this in mind, they traded him to the Cubs for number-one Cubs prospect Gleyber Torres (per Baseball America), and another good prospect in Billy McKinney, as well as prospect Rashad Crawford and former Yankees reliever Adam Warren. A fantastic haul for a reliever who the Yankees didn’t necessarily need, and one who wasn’t even under contract for next season.
Back on July 31, one day before the trade deadline, the Yankees were 52-52, standing seven games back in the division, and five and a half games back in the Wild Card. They had just been swept by divisional rival Tampa Bay and their Postseason odds had plummeted down to just 3 percent. With this in mind, managing general partner Hal Steinbrenner finally gave GM Brian Cashman the green light to make some more deals.
The Yankees bullpen back-end was so dominant that they let go of another guy, Andrew Miller, in addition to Chapman. They sent Miller to the contending Cleveland Indians for number-one prospect Clint Frazier, number-five prospect Justus Sheffield, right-handed prospect J.P. Feyereisen and reliever Ben Heller. Frazier is expected to be in the MLB at some point in 2017 (currently in Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre), Sheffield has been doing well in Double-A Trenton since the trade, and Heller has already made an MLB appearance with the Yankees. Feyereisen is also at Double-A Trenton with Sheffield.
The Yankees weren’t done there, acquiring former Yankee Tyler Clippard from Arizona for prospect pitcher Vicente Campos. Clippard was acquired to help fill the gaps left by Miller and Chapman, and he hopes to do that alongside Warren. They also sent struggling pitcher Ivan Nova to the Pirates for two players, to be named later.
Cashman and company had one more deal to make before the deadline struck, and that was sending All-Star Carlos Beltran to Texas for 2014 first-rounder Dillon Tate and pitching prospects Erik Swanson and Nick Green. Tate was in Baseball America’s top-100 list last season, but has struggled in 2016, leaving him off their list. However, Tate is a great asset to receive in a trade for a 39-year-old hitter in the last year of his deal.
With these moves, the Yankees not only strengthened their prospect pool, but created what is now arguably one of the best in the league. MLB Pipeline lists these new Yankees in their top 30 by team: Frazier at number one, Torres at two, Sheffield at seven, Tate at 11, and McKinney at 16.
Even after the deadline, the Yankees weren’t done making noise. On Aug. 6, first baseman Mark Teixeira announced this would be his last MLB season. Teixeira, 36, was set to become a free agent in 2017. Two days later, Alex Rodriguez announced his plans to play his final game as a Yankee, then become a special advisor to the team. This announcement was huge, as Rodriguez was barely playing, and when he was, he was struggling mightily. Rodriguez was set to be owed over $20 million in 2017.
With Rodriguez gone, Teixeira on his way out, and Beltran down in Texas, this was the perfect time for the Yankees to give their youth even more playing time. The Yankees’ top catching prospect (and possibly the best in the league), Gary Sanchez, was called up on Aug. 3, has seen plenty of playing time at catcher and designated hitter, and has really impressed. The other big prospect called up is a big one indeed, as 6’7”, 275-pound outfielder Aaron Judge was called up on Aug. 13, after Rodriguez played his final game.
Judge and Tyler Austin, a fellow prospect called up to replace Rodriguez, hit back-to-back home runs in their first MLB plate appearances, the first players to ever accomplish that. Later in the game, Judge hit another home run, and a home run in his next game the next day. Judge and Sanchez have been top prospects for the Yankees for a couple years, and now that fans have gotten a glimpse of them, the crowds never want them to leave.
The Yankees have been known around the league as a “boring” team since their championship in 2009, still giving extended playing time to older, declining veterans, like Derek Jeter in 2014, and Rodriguez and Teixeira this season. Young pups like Judge, Sanchez, Frazier, Torres, Tate and McKinney give this franchise the hope of a brighter future, not one filled with “We’ll go after this guy in four years, when we have the money.”
Keep in mind, the Yankees aren’t necessarily done, as they could technically still make a “waiver trade,” since catcher Brian McCann cleared trade waivers. Not to mention, the Yankees have also stashed struggling prospects like Luis Severino and Rob Refsnyder in the minors, and still have top guys like Jorge Mateo and 2016 first-rounder Blake Rutherford waiting in the distance.
With their reshaping at the deadline, Brian Cashman proved he’s one of the league’s top general managers, and the Yankees prospect pool was flipped upside-down, providing long-needed hope for the Bronx. Once again, Yankees fans, there’s some light glimmering at the end of the tunnel.
