New York Yankees Trade Deadline Preview

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What will the New York Yankees decide to do at the trade deadline?

They say that pride comes before a fall. In the New York Yankees case, pride is making their fall worse. Team ownership pride is getting in the way of realizing that the product on the field is not playoff caliber let alone a World Series contender.

The Yankees are last in slugging percentage in the AL. Think about that for a minute. The New York Yankees. The Bronx Bombers. They are last in the AL in slugging.

Now are the Yankees totally out of it? As of this post no, however, they would have to leapfrog five teams to be in one of the Wild Card spots. A tough task but not impossible.

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The Yankees are full of players with impressive backs of the baseball card. Players who have been All-Stars in the past. The keyword there is past. Alex Rodriguez has totally lost his bat speed. Mark Teixeira can’t stay on the field. The starting pitching is wildly inconsistent.

The thing is if the New York Yankees are remotely in it meaning about five games out of a playoff spot or so, they will make a move or two to try and help those chances.

If the Yankees were to sell, they have chips that can help any team in the league and can basically put them up for auction and set the price that they want.

So let’s take a look at the team a month out from the trade deadline

Next: For starters

Starting Pitching

The Yankees dynasty teams were built on a deep starting rotation. Guys like David Cone, David Wells, Andy Pettitte and Orlando Hernandez. Guys who would take the ball and keep you in the game without any doubt. This rotation is the antithesis of those teams.

CC Sabathia has been very impressive this year. He’s cleaned himself up and learned how to use a cutter and has looked like a totally different pitcher.

Masahiro Tanaka is supposed to be the ace of the staff. However, it would worry me that the “ace” can’t go out on regular rest and pitch his best. On four days rest (meaning regular rest), opponents batting average is .270. On an extra day? .189. It’s kind of hard to have that guy as your ace.

Michael Pineda and Nathan Eovaldi are like the roller-coaster that’s 15 years past its prime and yet you ride in it anyway. Maybe they puke after, maybe they don’t. Maybe Pineda and Eovaldi throw seven shutout innings. Maybe they give up four straight homers to the Twins. You just don’t know.

Ivan Nova should be a long man in the bullpen, but top prospect Luis Severino got hurt as did Bryan Mitchell and hasn’t been effective in AAA and they don’t want to give a opportunity to Luis Cessa or Chad Green to fill that spot.

Next: No runs DMC

The Bullpen

The bullpen was supposed to be the strength of the team and so far it has been. When the Yankees have a lead in the seventh inning, the game is usually over (unless you have a three hour rain delay and resume the game after 2am).

The Yankees made the off-season trade for Aroldis Chapman because they didn’t give up any of the jewels of the system for him and because Chapman was coming off a domestic violence incident and the Dodgers got cold feet about dealing for him.

Chapman has been excellent since coming off his suspension.

Andrew Miller and Dellin Betances set him and combined, the powers of “No Runs DMC” has a lot to do with why the Yankees are within a whisper of playoff contention.

The rest of the bullpen has ridden the Scranton Shuttle a few times this season. Guys like Chasen Shreve, Nick Goody, Johnny Barbato and Kirby Yates have had their moments in the sun as well, but this is about the three headed monster in the back end.

Next: An offensive attack that's been offensive

The Offense

This is where the Yankees stand on offense. These are all AL rankings and going into game action on June 29th.

13th in homers. 13th in runs. 10th in average. Tied for 12th in OBP. 15th in Slugging. 15th in WOBA. 15th in WRC+. Imagine where these rankings would be without Carlos Beltran?

The offense was going to live and die with a 41 year old DH and a first baseman who can’t stay healthy. Last year it lived well enough to make the AL Wild Card game. This year? Not so much. Alex Rodriguez is now a platoon player and is probably getting very close to the Yankees coming to him and buying out his contract for 2017 as well.

Mark Teixeira has been injured and when he wasn’t didn’t exactly look like an MVP candidate.

Brian McCann has his highest OBP as a Yankee, but his lowest slugging percentage. Brett Gardner is in the same boat, with his lowest slugging percentage since 2012. Chase Headley looked worse than Jon Lester at the plate in April, but has rebounded average wise since, but is lacking in the power department.

Starlin Castro will probably have better numbers than last season, but right now is sub replacement level. Didi Gregorious isn’t good enough offensively to carry a team and still can’t run the bases.

Jacoby Ellsbury is having his best season as Yankee since his first one, but he can’t stay healthy either. Add it up and you get those rankings above.

Next: What should the plan be?

Deadline Plan

GM Brian Cashman and manager Joe Girardi probably know in their heart of hearts that this team isn’t good enough for the postseason. However, the Steinbrenner edict can be seen below.

Just a little more time is all they are asking for.

The Yankees for the last few years have been in the worst place possible in the sports. In the middle. Good enough to compete, but not good enough to win a ring. The Yankees this year have taken advantage of beating up on the Twins, A’s and the Angels. Those games are over with and as the first three games have gone against the Rangers, this team isn’t ready for that kind of competition.

If I were running the Yankees, I would put everyone on the market not named Dellin Betances. It’s time to add young pieces to create a new core and see what you have in guys like Aaron Judge. That way, when a lot of the dead weight of contracts comes off the books, you can go and add the final pieces with the ridiculous free agent class of 2018.

The Yankees are concerned about the attendance drop and the lack of ratings on the tube. Fans will watch when the product gets better. It’s as simple as that. They need to realize that fans are smarter now and have access to more info than ever and know if the team stinks or not.

This team, as presently constituted isn’t good enough. However, if they are within five games of a spot come late July, they will go for it anyway and impede their rebuilding process more because ownership just doesn’t get it.

If they do sell, I expect Chapman, Beltran and most likely Miller to be with new teams by the deadline. They have three of the biggest chips to use and they are all pieces that nearly every contending team can use.

Next: Randy Levine Blasts Media

Sometimes you have to lose a battle to win a war. I think the Yankees would rather go through a rough year or two to build back up to a World Series caliber team. The Red Sox have done it quickly twice. There’s no reason the Yankees couldn’t.

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