MLB: Will the New York Yankees or other MLB teams be active in this trade season?

New York Yankees, Miguel Andujar
Oct 2, 2018; Bronx, NY, USA; New York Yankees player Miguel Andujar during workouts one day before the 2018 American League Wild Card playoff baseball game at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Danielle Parhizkaran/NorthJersey.com via USA TODAY Sports

The answer for the most part is no.  The New York Yankees have a powerful lineup and at the moment sufficient pitching to get to the postseason.  There are several reasons we won’t see much action in the next two weeks in MLB and here are a few:

  1. 16 teams able to reach the postseason, will make them less likely to move talented players.

  2. In this short season devoid of revenues, teams will not want to spend large amounts of money to acquire players.

  3. The opt-out situation.  With only 27 days left of the season at the deadline, would a team want to trade for someone that might opt out of the remainder of the season?

  4. The coronavirus factor: A team lets a talented prospect go for a seasoned veteran that reports the next day, but tests positive for the virus. A trade lost.

  5. Teams will be less knowledgeable as to who they might want to trade for.  In a normal year, scouts criss-cross the country looking at players they might want.  Not the case this short season.

  6. Even teams at the bottom of the rankings, like the Boston Red Sox or the Pittsburgh Pirates, are still only two or three wins from being in postseason contention.  If they have any players that are attractive, they may not want to go without them.

To get an idea where teams might be in their trade thoughts, let’s take a look at the New York Yankees.  Yes, the Yankees are near the top of baseball but they still have some inadequacies.  Gleyber Torres has not batted in any meaningful way, and of late is building up errors at shortstop. J.A. Happ doesn’t seem to be able to pitch this year.

With all the talent on the bench and really good pitchers coming along, would New York General Manager Brian Cashman want to deal any of the team’s brightest talents?  It’s doubtful. There is Miguel Andujar, who isn’t doing much this year, and really has no permanent place to play.  But even with Miguel, who surely has a bright future in baseball, would it be worth trading him away due to an offseason.  Probably not.

Even with stars Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Judge presently injured (although Judge may be back tonight), the Yankees have proved they have plenty of talent in the wings, like Mike Tauchman, Mike Ford, and Clint Frazier.

If the New York Yankees are going to do something, it will probably be to acquire a pitcher, caused by the poor pitching of J.A. Happ. But then again, there are still two weeks to see if the likes of Jonathan Loasigia, Micheal King, or Clarke Schmidt can fill that spot. My guess is that with spending big for Gerrit Cole and the lack of revenue this season, that the Yankees will not be active by the August 31 deadline, unless it’s a blockbuster move.

If a team is active, it will likely be everyone’s favorite sign-stealing team, the Houston Astros, that are really in bad shape this year, going into this weekend’s games.  The big blow to the team was the loss of ace Gerrit Cole during the offseason to the New York Yankees. They have also lost co-ace, Justin Verlander, to injury along with several of the bullpen being on the IL.  Although they still have a powerful lineup, have been ravaged by the absence of designated hitter Yordan Alvarez.  For this team headed up by Dusty Baker, not to make the postseason, in a season that it should be so easy too, would be a great embarrassment to a team that is already an embarrassment to baseball, it would be devastating.