The New York Yankees’ plethora of prospects is not only expected to help the team on the field but also help them on the trade market. A report from Bob Nightengale on USA Today suggests that rival executives believe that the Yankees will be more willing to part with prospects for help in trades. Addressing the offense will be the focal point of the Yankees’ offseason, and while free agency doesn’t boast a strong class of elite-level bats, the trade market could.
Aggression is something the Yankees have been hesitant to display at times, and it has cost them franchise-changing players on multiple occasions, but if they can pull off some key acquisitions, we could see them back in the postseason next winter.
The Yankees Could Be Well-Equipped to Make Splash Moves
The Yankees are tied with the Orioles for the most top-100 prospects in Baseball America’s top-100 list, and while they don’t have any top-10 caliber prospects, their strong depth could present some interesting scenarios on the trade market. Furthermore, Gleyber Torres and Oswald Peraza are in a bit of a logjam that could see the Yankees trade out of their middle infield pool to get upgrades elsewhere.
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Pairing with their surplus of Major League and Minor League pitching, teams could call the Yankees for a plethora of arms that could interest them. Outside of Gerrit Cole, there’s not much on the pitching staff that the Yankees wouldn’t at least entertain calls for, especially if they get a player on offense that they believe greatly helps them. Obviously, the biggest prize that could become available on the trade market is Juan Soto, who the Padres desperately want to hold onto, but know they likely cannot extend.
Bob Nightengale did add that the Padres could try to hold onto Soto until the deadline, but with the Padres’ projected payroll at $197 million and the news that broke about a $50 million loan they took out in September, it’s hard to imagine that they’ll be able to hang onto the outfielder and field a competitive pitching staff. Perhaps they find a way to trade one Xander Bogerts, but teams won’t be keen on taking on 10 years and $254.5 million of remaining salary without swapping a bad deal or San Diego eating a portion of that deal.
There are other players the Yankees could keep their eyes peeled for on the trade market, with names that didn’t get dealt at the deadline potentially being shopped, or expiring contracts that sellers could look to get a return for. ESPN’s very own Jeff Passan came out with a list of players such as Paul Goldschmidt, Tyler Glasnow, Pete Alonso, and even Mike Trout that could be dealt, and while we don’t know to what degree they’ll be shopped, we know that the Yankees could be very busy.
Clarke Schmidt could be a commodity on the trade front, but so could veteran arms like Michael King or Nestor Cortes, as the Yankees look to trade pitching that they might be able to replace on a robust pitching market in free agency. Their bullpen and farm system also have plenty of interesting arms they could dangle such as Jhony Brito, Randy Vasquez, Will Warren, or Ian Hamilton, who all have plenty of years of control and varying degrees of MLB or MiLB success in their careers.
The dynamic duo of Chase Hampton and Drew Thorpe should also garner plenty of offseason interest, and the Yankees could end up with a pretty stout return for pitchers that they won’t miss too much with how consistently they’ve churned out MiLB pitching in recent seasons.
