The New York Yankees made a
surprising trade with the Miami Marlins on Friday afternoon. They traded versatile infielder Martin Prado
and pitcher David Phelps for pitcher Eovaldi, first baseman Garrett Jones and a
minor league pitcher. It is surprising
because the Yankees really liked Prado and had him penciled in at second base
and he could also provide backup to third base and the outfield. The Yankees needed pitching though and they
really never had a spot for Phelps.
Phelps was bounced around between the rotation and the bullpen with the
Yankees never fully knowing what they wanted to do with him. Eovaldi is a 24 year old pitcher with a lot
of upside. He threw about 200 innings
last season which is important to the Yankees but they also like that he is
young and cheap. He is one of the
hardest throwers in baseball and the Yankees feel they can work with him to
make him a better pitcher.
The most interesting part of this
deal for me is Jones. He is definitely
the backup first baseman to fragile Mark Teixeira which will assure that
Headley only has to play third base and further marginalizes Alex
Rodriguez. Rodriguez was going to be the
backup to third and first and the full-time DH.
I would say maybe he is the backup at third now and a part time DH. He will be the DH against leftie and won't
play the field unless there is an emergency.
Jones has a left power swing which is perfect for Yankee Stadium. He has hit 15+ homeruns in six straight years
and the Yankees figure that number will go up with the short porch in right
field. He is a guy that if he plays
enough should hit 20/25 homeruns and provide much needed left handed power to
the team. He can also backup RF which is
important to the Yankees with Beltran also being a little bit fragile.
The other part of this equation is
second base is wide open now. It looks
like the Yankees will have a spring training battle between two youngsters Rob
Refsnyer who is 23 years old and Jose Pirela who is a little bit older. Pirela is also a younger cheaper version of
Prado so it is possible he could be a bench player who backups multiple
positions. He may also be at AAA ready
to step up if anything happens with Refsnyder as the second baseman which I
think the Yankees and most of the fans want.
It is also possible the Yankees don't risk this at all and they sign a
veteran such as Stephen Drew or Asdrubal Cabrera to play second base. The Yankees now have their rotation set with
Eovaldi slotting in behind Masahiro Tanaka, Michael Pineda, CC Sabathia. The fifth starter job right now looks like it
belongs to Chris Capuano but by May or June Ivan Nova should be returning from
Tommy John and figures to slot in the rotation as well. The Yankees bullpen seems set as well with
Betances and Miller at the backend and Shawn Kelley, Justin Wilson and Adam
Warren in front of them. They also have
Esmil Rogers who can serve as the longman and there could be a battle for the
last spot between recent pickup German from the Mets and youngster Jacob
Lindgren.
The Yankees have clearly gone the
youth rout this offseason. They could
have a double play combination that is 25 and 23 years old and have them for
years to come if it works out. They are
also clearly setting up 1B and RF for the next couple of years to be taken over
by youngsters Aaron Judge and Greg Bird and Headley although not a youth is in
his prime and signed for four years.
They have McCann and a young backup behind him who could take over when
McCann is ready to go. Gardner and
Ellsbury in the outfield are also in their prime and most importantly to them
is the pitching with four of their five starters being under 30 when Nova comes
back and their bullpen also filled with young guys and more coming behind
them. We will see how this all works out
but the Yankees have decided to change business and go the way that they built
their late 90s dynasty. They will go
with homegrown talent and then the right trade or free agent signing that won't
kill them.
No comments:
Post a Comment