Could Blake Snell end up a New York Yankee?
There is an interesting wrinkle popping up for the New York Yankees. The Tampa Bay Rays have made it known that co-ace Blake Snell could be on the trade block as they will listen to offers. The Tampa Bay Rays make some quirky moves when looking to improve their team, like when they traded Archer for Tyler Glasnow and others.
Another interesting bit of news is that the Rays reportedly wouldn’t be against trading him within their own division, even to the Boston Red Sox and, yes, the New York Yankees. Snell is really not a high-quality ace-type pitcher but would be a premium addition to the Yankees ace Gerrit Cole giving the Yankees a big-time one-two punch at the beginning of the Yankee rotation.
As much as this kind of trade would close the pitching gap with the Rays, this probably won’t happen, but it is a possibility now. To further shorten the gap between the two teams, the Rays have just lost Charlie Morton who the Rays failed to exercise his option. He is now an Atlanta Braves pitcher who picked him up on a one-year deal for the $15 million, the same amount that the Rays did not want to spend on him. The unfortunate part of the Morton deal is that he was on the Yankee’s radar to improve the Yankee team. The Yankees have now lost out on Morton, Stroman, and Gausman.
You can be sure that any trade talks for Snell would include Deivi Garcia, who debuted with the Yankees last season, possibly Clarke Schmidt, and even Luke Voit. We know that general manager Brian Cashman is very reluctant to give up prime prospects.
Adam Ottavino’s eye documented the coronavirus season
Who knew? The New York Yankee pitcher Adam Ottavino took a unique approach to the historic 2020 coronavirus season. He wanted to record history, so he took his Leica camera and documented much of the strange season. Everything from what they had to go through when entering Yankee Stadium, to drained hot tubs, to surreal empty stadiums, to players lockers in the hallways at Fenway Park.
He also photographed Yankee Gerrit Cole keeping his pitching form, pitching in his own backyard in Westchester. Ottavino wanted to record for history how strange the 2020 season really was and became an amateur photojournalist in the process. ESPN interviewed Ottavino about why he did it and displayed many of his photos. You can see several of the most interesting photos.
Yankee’s manager Aaron Boone defends Sanchez, but why?
With all the talk of Yankee catcher Gary Sanchez no longer being the Yankee starting catcher, or even that the Yankees will listen to offers for the young catcher, Aaron Boone took to the airwaves of the YES Network to strongly defend Sanchez.
“I think he’s been unfairly criticized a lot,†Boone told the YES Network. “I think at times it’s over the top and people are blinded by some of the things that he’s done really well. This year was certainly a challenging year for him and a struggle for him in a lot of ways, but that’s okay.â€
The Yankees are seriously considering replacing their starting catcher of the last four years after having a miserable season. Sanchez has been defensively deficient from the get-go, but those deficiencies have always been overshadowed by his ability to hit the long ball and, in some seasons, a lot of them. But with an ever decreasing batting average, this year at an all-time low of .147, those deficiencies had taken front and center.
Unanswered questions with Luke Voit trade rumors
Swirling around the hot stove is the idea that the Yankees might be willing to trade Luke Voit for Francisco Lindor, but those rumors don’t seem to be gaining much traction as the Yankees front office remains silent on the issue.
The way the trade would work is that the Yankees would send Luke Voit and other assets to the Indians in exchange for one of the best shortstop in the business, Francisco Lindor. That would allow the Yankees to move Cleyber Torres to his natural position at second base. In turn, that would move DJ LeMahieu if they can resign him to first base, making Luke Voit expendable.
Even though Luke Voit’s value is now more than it has ever been, after having the most home runs in baseball this season, the Yankees will have to decide if keeping Voit is more important than moving Torres. The Yankees will look to what Voit can do for the team for many years to come. The New York Yankees have a history of not trading away assets that they feel important to their future.