It appears to be a struggle from within the Yankee organization and Yankee fans. So often the fans yell to "let the kids play" and so often Brian Cashman will suggest that they "see a future" for one of our kids... only to trade them away 2 days later. Most recently, and it wasn't recent, it was Jesus Montero for Michael Pineda, but that turned out to be a dud on the Montero side of it. The jury is still out on Pineda. But there's an example... one of our youngsters with a future in pinstripes... and then, gone. There were other youngsters who the Yankees wanted to "hold onto", only to eventually see them disappear from Yankeeland.... Brandon Laird, David Adams, you know the drill.
Why? Is it because ESPN came out to blast the Yankees farm system recently? (Read A TEN YEAR DROUGHT PLAGUES OUR FARM.) Who really knows, but the point is, if people want the Core Four so badly... if they want to see players blossom like Bernie Williams or David Robertson or Robinson Cano, then why are the Yankees trading them away?
Enter a "suggestion" from the Arizona Republic that the Yankees may have a trade partner with the D'Backs. Not a rumor, not anything fact based... a suggestion.
The Arizona Diamondbacks have a shortstop that will most likely become available. The Arizona Republic, writes: "Chris Owings and Didi Gregorius is officially underway with Cactus League play starting on Wednesday... we should also keep in mind a third outcome – that the Diamondbacks end the competition by making a trade at some point during spring training.
'It’s been pretty quiet of late,' General Manager Kevin Towers said of the trade market. 'With Stephen Drew still out there right now, I haven’t had much trade discussions.'
But Towers didn’t shoot down the idea of a trade. In fact, he spelled out what the Diamondbacks probably would be looking for in return if they were going to trade one of their shortstops.
'For us, it would have to be the right deal,' Towers said."
Then came the leap:
"...Several teams are known to be in the market for a shortstop – or at least were during the winter – including the Mets, Yankees..."
Now to trade for a shortstop, you need to give away one of your guys... most likely a farm guy and here we go again... Who? And why do we "hurry up" just to then release our guys that we are "trying to develop" at the same time? I mean, didn't Brian Cashman say he wanted to try and fix up the farm system?
“I understand why people are bringing that up, and it’s something we’re going to be looking at...”
That was Cashman speaking of the farm system in a Bob Klapisch piece from late last season. Meanwhile, Gary Sanchez was just listed 35 on Baseball America's 100 Top Prospects. Not outstanding, but he cracks the 100 list... so, which is it? Are we just going to give away our good talent for a possible backup to Derek Jeter and future Yankee shortstop or are we going to be more creative with our packages?
I understand the Yankees need a shortstop, but in the same breath, this is Jeter's Farewell tour, he doesn't want to say goodbye as the DH all season. Jeter has too much pride... he wants to be the Yankees shortstop in his last year. I mean, we also have Brendan Ryan as our back up right now, have we forgotten? He's a great defender and solid backup if Jeter can't handle it. But trust me... he will be a fine replacement for now.
It's my opinion that the solution is not trying to be trade partners with the Diamondbacks for Owings OR Gregorius. The solution is to try and lock down Stephen Drew for the next 3 years at a reasonable rate and that will buy us time for a full time replacement and possible prospect.
Look, I know it's ideal, but the Yankees have to chew gum and walk at the same time right now. That means they have to secure their future at the same time they're looking for replacements. Just giving away all we have, just because they're ranked low, doesn't exactly make much sense. Sometimes kids need a break. Sometimes kids blossom... looking at a ranking and reacting by trading them away isn't always best. Sometimes players need to grow... we've done it before... we can do it again.
I was curious to why Yankeeland was so interested in being trade partners with the Diamondbacks, but I just had trouble finding the source. Well, I found it, and all it was, was a suggestion from the Arizona Republic. Not a rumor, not an official conversation, not a hard fact. In other words... people on jumping on anything to make the Yankees look more interesting than they already are.
All I'm saying is, there may be better options than Sanchez for Gregorius... that's all.
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