A Wednesday Discussion: Trade Deadline

July 31, 2024

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The trade deadline has passed.

This week we asked our writers:

Are you satisfied with the direction the Yankees took at this year's trade deadline?  

Here are their responses:

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Paul Semendinger - Like almost every year, it's the same thing. In the winter I note some weaknesses on the team. Readers respond, "That's what the trade deadline is for." The days get close to the deadline. The Yankees are rumored to be on every big player. The deadline ends, the Yankees end up with a few lesser pieces and come up short, again.

The Yankees failed to address most of their needs. Other teams made big splashes. The Dodgers get the prized starting pitcher. Bullpen closers went. The Yankees are left standing, looking completely overmatched, confused, and befuddled.

The Yankee apologists will say, "Jazz Chisholm is a legitimate third baseman." They'll say, "Mark Leiter is better than his numbers." They'll argue, "De Los Santos can be a big game pitcher out of the pen."

We'll hear, "The Yankees just weren't comfortable with the prospect cost."

We'll hear, "The Yankees have a budget, you know."

We'll hear, "Other teams asked the Yankees more to give up than they asked from other teams."

We'll also hear, "We see getting Stanton back and hopefully Dominguez and Scott Effros as big moves. Those are the same as big trades - getting those guys back."

All excuses, we have heard many (many) times before.

The Yankees came up small at the deadline. Absolutely and completely.

Winners get the job done. Losers make excuses. We'll be hearing excuses now and then again in October when the Yankees pack their bags well before the World Series.

(If I were Juan Soto, I would see, clearly, where this team is heading and wouldn't wish to be part of a long 15 years of mediocrity. He's going to get huge money. He should find a place that actually seems to have a plan...)

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Lincoln Mitchell - This was an absurd trade deadline, but it captures the ongoing grift that is the Yankees in the Cashman era. All but assured a playoff spot, but having several clear shortcomings, the Yankees made one good move, picking up Jazz Chisholm, and added two relievers whose names we are unlikely to remember a year from now. These are the actions of team that wants to appear to be trying, rather than one that wants to win the World Series.

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Tamar Chalker - I feel like it was kind of a push. Jazz Chisholm Jr seemed like an odd acquisition given the Yankees’ needs, but I think he has already injected some good energy into the team and lineup that was needed. I’m excited to watch him. I’m glad they got a little more bullpen help, but I think they needed more than what they got in that realm.

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Mike Whiteman - The Yankees are a better team now than a week ago. Chisholm and Leiter are nice additions, shoring up weak spots on the roster. 

Is it enough? I would have felt a lot better with another starter and strikeout reliever. Can they win with what they have? I believe so, but there is very little margin for injury or poor performance. A lot has to go right. 

So, am I satisfied? Can't help but to think what could have been. 

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Ethan Semendinger - The Yankees had many holes, in my opinion, that they needed to fix ahead of the trade deadline: second base, third base, closer, and set-up man.

The Yankees addressed second base. They got Jazz Chisholm (who is great!)...and then they put him at third base, instead keeping Gleyber Torres (the MLB leader in errors by a 2B) in the middle infield. (Speaking of Gleyber: I wanted him traded. I cannot wait for him to leave this team.)

The Yankees did not get Isaac Paredes. He would've been a perfect option for third base now and for the next few years.

The Yankees did add two bullpen arms. I like Mark Leiter Jr. The jury is out on Enyel De Los Santos. But, they did not get a shut-down closer. They will have to rely on Clay Holmes to be that player. (He isn't.)

Brian Cashman will address the media today. Be prepared for lots of "we're getting back injured players" and "we were in on him, but the price got too high". Every year it is the same song and dance. The Yankees refuse to ever go all-in. Even when they have- arguably- two of the five best players in the MLB right now on the team.

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Cary Green - Did Cashman do enough? It doesn’t appear that he did but I really don’t fault him for it. Rather than get fleeced for being desperate, the two trades he made were far from overpays. He won the MTV piece of both trades that he made and I think that counts for something. He held onto all of his top prospects as well and he even managed to keep a few under the radar types as well. Cashman also improved the team on the field as well and let’s not forget, the Yankees have a number of players still trickling in off the DL to provide reinforcements, which in terms of impact, is kind of like making a number of key trades or moves.  

Note - This is part of a longer article to be published tomorrow.

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Ed Botti - I'm indifferent.  I didn't think they'd be in on any big fish. I had hoped they'd grab a third basemen. But in typical form, they grabbed a player that isnt a third basemen, and then gave him a new mitt.

Jazz played third with no incident on Monday night ( I'm writting this before Tuesdays game), good for him and good job by him. However, he is not a MLB third baseman, at least not yet. I do not like mid-season try outs. We still have to see him come in on balls to his right, and throw to his left (think Alex Cora bunting on him) as well as other tough 3rd base plays he will be called on to make. He may turn out to be able to handle the position with a full spring training, etc., but right now, I would like a MLB third baseman. I wanted to call the Cubs now that Paredes is in Chicago and see what it would take to get Michael Busch (1B and 3B experience).  That didn't happen, to my knowledge. Which brings me to Leiter.  I like the move. A swing and miss guy on a hot streak. He should get some big high pressure outs. Great sinker.

De Los Santos doesn't do much for me, especially when you consider that the Padres are all in. Why move him? As hot as Leiter has been over the last 30 games, De Los Santos has been the extreme opposite pitching to a 5.46 era over the last 30 games. They must-see something on him.

One move I want to see is in the rotation. Lots of rumors about moving on from Nestor. No, the man to have moved on from is Stroman. You are now seeing what I said would happen in March. He falls off big time in the second half (or the important half). Trade him, and acquire another starter in a separate deal  (I’d have checked in on Chris Bassett).

Another swing and miss reliever would have been good. Someone like Cade Smith from Cleveland or Bryan Hudson from Milwaukee might have looked good in pinstripes.

At the end of the day however,  the trade deadline wasn't the key, for me. They have a lot of talent right now to turn it around. I wanted dead wood removed. I wanted to shake things up. 

Making Caleb Ferguson, Jahmai Jones and JD Davis the only casualties isn't enough.

They needed a wake up call.

The big question is what do they do with DJ? Since they owe him another $30mm after this season, he will not be DFA’d. It looks like he will be used sparingly as a defensive replacement and spot starter. It’s a tough pill to swallow for a proud ex-batting champ, but they can no longer afford to play a .174 hitter every night.

 I look for Jasson Dominguez to make it back to the Bronx sometime in mid-August if he has no setbacks from his oblique injury and Rizzo will be back as well.

Somehow the Yankees were gifted with a Baltimore slump at same time as their slump.

Lastly, sitting Stanton after one game and holding Cole back for fatigue is NOT the way to go all in and do whatever and whenever it takes to win. That was a bad sign, for me.

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Andy Singer - Satisfied?  That's a really tricky question.  What the Yankees did over the last few days COULD be enough.

I think Cashman had a great start to the Trade Deadline.  I would argue that the best baseball Jazz Chisholm has in him (which is what the Yankees have gotten from him in his first two games) makes him the best player traded at the deadline.  He's dynamic and he checks a lot of boxes for the Yankees' offense.  Mark Leiter Jr. is one of the targets I highlighted in the SSTN Mailbag last week, and I think he's as good as almost all of the high profile relievers dealt this year.  

However, given the pieces remaining, I also really wanted a right-handed bat to platoon with Verdugo and/or Rice and another high-end bullpen arm.  Neither happened.  Again, the Yankees might have done enough to right the ship, but they didn't knock it out of the park to signal they were "all-in."  I have much fuller comments in this week's SSTN Mailbag, but I am left shy of being satisfied.