New York Yankees Rumors: Five potential Bronx-bound trade options
By Paul Ashley
The Boston Red Sox have won the World Series four times since 2004 (’04, ’07, ’13, ’18) while the New York Yankees have only won the Fall Classic once (’09) during this time. Due to this, the Yankees rumors may fly this offseason as the front office endeavors to give the team its best chance at a World Series Championship.
Following a surprising run that ended after a loss in Game 7 of the American League Championship in 2017, the New York Yankees were eliminated earlier in 2018 after a loss in Game 4 of the AL Division Series. Even though both of these seasons involved young Yankees rosters that were eliminated by the eventual World Series champions (Houston Astros in ’17, Boston Red Sox in ’18), they have flaws that need to be addressed prior to the start of the next season.
One of the main flaws for the franchise involves the lack of overall reliable starting pitching. The fielding independent pitching (FIP) stat provides evidence for this as it focuses on the effectiveness of the starting pitchers themselves without factoring in the impact of the varying defensive alignments behind them.
In 2017, the starting pitchers ranked 7th in the MLB with a 4.18 FIP. Each of the starting pitchers on the other three AL teams that reached the Division Series finished the regular season with a better FIP than the Yankees. The Houston Astros compiled a 3.95 FIP, the Red Sox compiled a 3.91 FIP, and the Cleveland Indians compiled an MLB leading 3.39 FIP.
In 2018, the Yankees starting pitchers regressed as they dropped to 10th in the MLB with a 3.84 FIP. Similar to 2017, each of the other three teams that reached the AL Division Series in 2018 also finished the regular season with a better FIP. The Red Sox compiled a 3.80 FIP, the Indians compiled a 3.44 FIP, and the Astros compiled an MLB leading 3.28 FIP.
As Luis Severino, Masahiro Tanaka, and C.C. Sabathia are the only experienced starting pitchers currently under contract, the team desperately needs to fill in the remaining two rotation spots with reliable starting pitching in order to increase their chances at winning the AL East division next season.
Another flaw for the franchise is the lack of overall production with runners in scoring position (RISP). In 2017, the Yankees lineup ranked 17th in the MLB with a .261 average (AVG) with RISP. In 2018, they improved to 12th in the MLB even though their RISP AVG lowered to .253.
For a comparison, the Astros led the league with a .294 AVG with RISP in 2017 while the Red Sox led the league with a .289 AVG with RISP in 2018. As both of these teams went on to win the World Series after leading the MLB in AVG with RISP during the regular season, it shows the importance of being able to cash in during these opportunities.
Although there are free agents available that could help solve these issues, it is unknown exactly how much the Yankees are willing to spend (despite resetting their luxury tax penalties by keeping the payroll under $179 million in 2018). However, as the Yankees contain a top-ranked farm system, general manager Brian Cashman will likely have the necessary trade chips available to acquire any of the possible trade candidates this offseason.
Let’s now take a look at five possible Bronx-bound trade candidates that the Yankees may attempt to acquire during this offseason.