First was the trade for Zach Britton. Then came J.A. Happ, and now a trade for Lance Lynn. What do they all have in common? They were all trade-deadline deals by the Yankees for “rental” players. Players in their walk-year, who will be free agents at the end of this season. What does that tell us? It tells us that the Yankees are all in (kinda).When you trade prospects for an expiring contract, you are looking short term .. this season. But at the same time the players they have targeted haven’t been overly costly. Britton was coming back from an injury, Happ was brought in as a middle-of-the-rotation starter and Lance Lynn who was obtained from the Twins for Tyler Austin & Luis Rijo, filling the role of bullpen long-man/starter. An ace like Jacob deGrom or Madison Bumgarner never became available on the market and the Yanks did not make serious offers for the next level arms like Chris Archer or Zack Wheller. The Yankees were thinking of this year but at the same time thinking ahead. They acquired the max. $3.75 Million in international pool money by trading off Shreve & Gallegos to the Cards, Frare to the W.Sox and Warren to the M’s. The Yankees hedged their bet at the deadline because that is what the market dictated. They took a win-now approach to a degree by upgrading their pitching staff with low-cost rental arms who each are seasoned veterans with tons of experience and also, all three have good records vs. the .. Boston Red Sox. This is not a bad strategy , but is it good enough to put them over the top? Can the Yankees catch the Red Sox and win the division with these moves? If not can the Yankees win the WC game and then match up their upgraded rotation with the likes of Boston, Houston &/or Cleveland ?
Time will tell if these trade-deadline moves were enough, but there is one more issue to keep in mind when you evaluate the Yankee pitching staff. Luis Severino is the Yankee ace. Masahiro Tanaka was signed to a mega-contract in 2014 to be the Yankee ace.
Here is the key to the upcoming pennant-chase and 2018 postseason…
CAN SEVERINO & TANAKA PITCH LIKE THE #1 & #1A ACES THEY ARE EXPECTED TO BE ? IMO – IF THEY BOTH CAN PITCH LIKE TOP-OF-THE-ROTATION ACES, THE SEASON WILL END WITH A PARADE DOWN THE CANYON OF HEROS.
IF !!
THAT’S A BIG IF !! WHY ?
I will discuss “IF” from every angle, in my next column.
As always,
Go NYY !!
