The New York Yankees have plenty of moves left to make this off-season once the lockout comes to an end. Their crosstown rivals, the New York Mets, took a far more aggressive approach toward bolstering their squad prior to the lockout, bringing in big names like Max Scherzer, Starling Marte, Mark Canha, and Eduardo Escobar.
Brian Cashman sat and watched the Mets execute a flurry of moves, but the Yankees’ GM still has his eyes down the line on potential targets.
However, one reporter constructed a trade scenario that would send the Yankees’ failed experiment at shortstop to the Mets in exchange for a solid utility man who could contribute at multiple positions.
Joe Giglio of NJ.com proposed the idea of trading Gleyber Torres for Jeff McNeil, utility man for the Mets.
The Yankees did their best to inject Torres into the shortstop spot, spending 108 games at the position this past season, recording 18 errors and a .952 fielding percentage, far below the league average. His -10 defensive runs saved above average forced management to make a transition, moving Gio Urshela away from the hot corner to help supplement Gleyber’s defensive deficiencies.
Torres will likely move back to second base if he isn’t traded, but if the Yankees somehow managed to construct a deal with the Mets regarding Jeff McNeil, things could get a bit more interesting.
McNeil has experience playing at second base and in the outfield, hosting a career .278 average and 1.5 WAR. This past season, he hit .251 with seven homers and 35 RBIs, with his last double-digit home run season coming in 2019 when he hit 23.
One thing to like about McNeil is that he strikes out only 14% of his at-bats on average and offers far superior defense compared to Torres.
McNeil posted a .976 fielding percentage at second base over 605.2 innings this past season but also has 1133 innings of experience in the outfield, recording a .971 average with six errors.
You can make the argument that McNeil would provide more value than Torres moving forward, despite being four years older. The Yankees would have team control over McNeil until 2025, and he’s arbitration-eligible in 2022.
[wpdiscuz-feedback id=”89z9uckbw0″ question=”What do you think?” opened=”0″]Would you execute a deal involving Torres and McNeil if you were Brian Cashman? Comment below![/wpdiscuz-feedback]