Despite being a World Series contender, the New York Yankees need to be open about trading some of their young players to bring them way over the hump.
The 2019 Yankees lived by the “next man up.” They won 103 games without Luis Severino and Giancarlo Stanton for most of the season. Aaron Judge missed 60 games, Gary Sanchez missed 56, and Aaron Hicks missed 103.
While it was a cute idea last year, and it’s widely deemed a “good problem to have,” it’s still a problem.
So here are four players that the Yankees should consider using as trade bait.
4
Luke Voit
1B
While Voit is the best first baseman on the team, the Yankees have plenty of guys who can play the position on their roster.
DJ LeMahieu played first base throughout the entire postseason, as Voit was left off both the ALDS and ALCS rosters. Voit had just one hit in his final 32 at bats of the season.
Voit, of course, was battling what turned out to be several torn abdominal muscles last year, which did not help his cause last year.
But aside from LeMahieu, rookie Mike Ford racked an .889 OPS in 50 games last year, playing first base in 29 of them.
While the Yankees, rightfully, should be more comfortable with Voit as an every day first baseman than Ford – considering Voit has played in 177 more games in the big leagues, take a look at the Yankees roster next season.
Masahiro Tanaka and James Paxton are set to hit the free agent market. Luis Severino is already out until mid-2021. J.A. Happ has been in trade talks and will also be a free agent after the 2021 season.
While the Yankees added Gerrit Cole in the offseason, the rest of their staff is an unknown beyond this season. The Yankees could try to roll the dice with Ford every day – or trot LeMahieu at first base and rock with Tyler Wade at second base, while getting controllable arms in exchange for Voit.