The New York Yankees are expected to be active at this year’s trade deadline. Baseball’s best team still has holes that they need to address if they want to win their 28th World Series.
The areas of focus include the outfield, starting rotation, and the bullpen. Pitching has been a strength as a whole for the Yankees this year, but we’ve seen some hiccups as of late. Notably, Nestor Cortes and Jameson Taillon pitching to ERAs north of five over their last seven starts.
The bullpen has been hit over their three-game losing streak and they’ve been used a lot. Health has been an issue with the pen and the unreliability of Aroldis Chapman is a real hinderance on the team.
The biggest obvious hole is in the outfield. While Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Judge will be the starting corner outfielders in the All Star game, Joey Gallo has been atrocious. He’s been historically bad since the Yankees acquired him last year.
In virtually every offensive metric, Gallo ranks last among active hitters in major league baseball. The Yanks gave up a haul to get Gallo last year. Three of the guys they traded away to Texas have already played for the Rangers this season.
The Yankees thought they were getting a power lefty bat with great defense and good speed. What they got is someone who strikes out more than they make contact at all fair or foul and someone who has become a team liability.
Yankees must consider the bright lights
When I look at Joey Gallo, I think of Sonny Gray. Gray was someone the Yankees front office lusted after for a long time. Finally in 2017, New York was able to acquire the soft-spoken Gray from Oakland.
Over his season and a half with the Yankees, Gray pitched to an ERA close to five. Eventually, New York decided to cut their losses and trade him to the Reds. Brian Cashman finds himself in a similar position with Joey Gallo.
The Yankees have already begun conversations with teams potentially interested in Gallo. This is another trade for a guy who just simply couldn’t handle New York. Wherever Gallo ends up next, I guarantee you his production will go back to some form of normalcy.
Brian Cashman has been justifiably given a lot of flack for his lack of pulling the trigger on certain deals. Deals where the Yankees would have had to deal top prospects for proven MLB stars. I’m reminded of the Gerrit Cole trade with Pittsburg where Cash turned down giving the Pirates Clint Frazier, Chance Adams, and Miguel Andujar.
Yes, you read that right. Houston got Gerrit Cole because the Yankees wouldn’t part with those guys. Now, that seems asinine now, but at the time, those three were the cream of the crop in the Yankees system.
Cole has shown that he was a great fit for the Yanks. To Cashman’s credit, he got Anthony Rizzo who has been a perfect fit unlike the struggling Gallo. Rizzo and Cole are big game guys who can handle the New York spotlight. Sonny Gray and Joey Gallo are tremendous players who just can’t.
So when they act this year, the Yankees have to consider the spotlight. Hopefully Cashman pulls the right lever this year.