Yesterday the New York Yankees were embarrassed by the Houston Astros in a double-header in Houston. New York lost both games and didn’t look good in either game. They haven’t looked good against Houston all year long.
In seven games against the Astros, the Yankees went 2-5. Astonishingly, the Yankees never led in a single game. Their two wins featured two walk-off wins where their only lead came in the form of winning the game.
Throw out your records, as things currently stand, Houston is the best team in the American League. With that, the Yankees have some work to do. The trade deadline is coming up in a couple of weeks and New York is expected to be active.
We’ve seen them tied to the outfield market and we’ve seen them tied to the starting pitching market. In the starting pitching market, there’s some smoke with Luis Castillo. Personally, I’m leaning towards Castillo being the big-time move the Yankees will make.
However, the sexiest name on the trading block is Juan Soto. The 23-year-old superstar finds himself on the block after rejecting a 15-year extension from the Nationals. The Yankees are one of the teams at least taking a look at the generational talent.
Now, it’s already starting to come out that New York isn’t willing to deal the prospect package that it would take to get the deal done. However, I started thinking about it today, and there is a route they could go that would potentially open the door a little more on Soto coming to The Bronx.
Would the Yankees deal Gleyber?
Gleyber Torres is having a very strong year now that the Yankees have put him back to where he belongs at second base. After a couple of abysmal years at shortstop, Torres looks back to normal now that they’ve put him at second base.
He has a 3.0 WAR for the season and he’s on pace to hit around .270 with over 25 home runs. Not too mention he’s looked very good defensively at second. With this resurgence this year, his value has gone up again around the league.
Torres is 25-years-old and he still has so much potential. With this latest resurgence, he could be at the center of the Yankees potential talks with the Nationals. Here’s the thing, Brian Cashman is not going to deal Anthony Volpe, Jasson Dominguez, and Oswald Peraza for Soto.
He’s not going to deal all three. However, is there a situation where he’d be willing to part with two of them? Let’s say the Yankees throw in Torres in the deal and then add in Peraza and Dominguez. In addition to those three, maybe they take on the contract of Patrick Corbin or they add in a few throw in prospects.
Could that be enough to get Soto to the Yankees? It quite possibly could. Now how would that impact this year’s team? Well, it really wouldn’t. With the incredible year Matt Carpenter is having, he becomes the Yankees utility guy for 1st and 3rd base.
DJ LeMahieu would get to settle in at second base permanently and IKF could remain at shortstop. Then the Yankees have an outfield of Soto, Judge, Hicks, and Stanton rotating. Talk about a huge upgrade to the team.
The assumption is the Yankees will figure out a way to dump Joey Gallo. Maybe I’m crazy for even suggesting it, but I’m reminded of how the Yankees traded away Alfonso Soriano for Alex Rodriguez. Maybe we see something similar play out. Time will tell, but would you do that deal? Sound off below!