December 14, 2023
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On Tuesday, in the Tuesday Discussion, I opined that the Yankees should trade with the Pirates to get their thrid baseman Ke'Bryan Hayes.
Well... the Yankees made a trade with the Pirates.
But they didn't get Hayes.
Billy McKinney has been traded to the Pirates... in exchange for.... money.
Oh well.
It's something, but it's not much.
FROM MLBTR:
"The Pirates have acquired outfielder Billy McKinney from the Yankees in exchange for international bonus pool money, reports Jack Curry of Yes Network."
given that MLB made has, in recent times, enacted rules that serve to restrict teams that sign top free agents from signing top amateur talent, the Yankees used their money to sign top international free agents
and then MLB enacted rules that prevented the big-money teams from scooping up all the top international amateurs by capping the amount of bonus money that any single team may permissibly dole out in a single season.
and now the Yankees are inclined to acquire a bit of extra bonus money from other teams and spend most all on a singularly outstanding prospect.
Dodgers traded for Tyler Glasnow last night. Hopefully they are out on Yamamoto.
i hardly think that the Pirates called the Yankees and said "Hey Cashman, whadoya want for McKinney?" This deal makes me think that Cashman is, or was, talking to the Pirates about something bigger. Brian Reynolds? Hayes? Wishful thinking perhaps, but not beyond the realm of possibility.
Hey, isn't the IFA signing period in less than a month? Something like January 15? Unless it's left over money, since tomorrow, if I remember correctly, is the last day of this period. Could they be signing a guy tomorrow?