Top Prospects in Yankees Trade Pitch Help Acquire Cy Young Winner
This isn’t to suggest that New York Yankees general manager Brian Cashman is being less than truthful.
When Cashman told reporters on March 11 that the Yankees were “less likely” to make a significant deal that would bring in a top-flight pitcher to replace Gerrit Cole, instead choosing to “rely on what we have” as the season progresses, he probably meant every word of it.
The reality of the situation is that New York is already past Major League Baseball’s $301 million tax threshold, so any dollars added to the payroll via acquired players would come with a 110-percent tax. The other reality, however, is that the Yankees have high hopes of returning to the World Series this season, an already challenging goal made much tougher with the tremendous hole in the starting rotation caused by the loss of Cole, who underwent UCL surgery on his pitching elbow.
“Gerrit Cole, one of the best pitchers of this generation, isn’t easily replaceable,” Jon Heyman wrote for the New York Post. “But that doesn’t mean the Yankees shouldn’t try.”
Not only try, but according to Bleacher Report, they will. A March 14 report by Zachary Rymer says that with the loss of Cole, compounded by the expected absence of Luis Gil until midseason with a high-grade lat sprain, the Yankees are the team most likely to make a trade for Miami Marlins ace Sandy Alcantara.
