Yankees Trade Andrew Miller To Cleveland For Clint Frazier
Well it’s happening people. For the first time in most of our lives, The New York Yankees are sellers. It’s exhilarating! Obviously being in first place would be much better but if we aren’t going to win this year, the right move is to load up the farm system for the future and thankfully ownership has finally seen the light after two terrible games in Tampa.
Just last week we traded Chapman to the Cubs but kept up the impression that if things went well the rest of this week, we could be buying. Instead we choked in Tampa and now have one of the top overall prospects in the game coming to New York, in the Ginger Jesus, Clint Frazier. A Futures Star selection this year, Frazier we just called up to AAA this week after putting up a stat line of .276, 13 HR, 48 RBIs, 13 SB in 89 games. Some have compared him to Mike Trout, which I don’t necessarily see as a fair comparison based on Trout being on pace to be one of the all-time greats, Frazier will be a great MLB player. Realistically we could be two years away from a Frazier, Judge, Harper, outfield and as a Yankee fan that should make you very excited.
So what happens next? We may still technically be in contention but Brian Cashman has been given the green light to rebuild this team and sell off pieces. Over the next 30 hours we will see Carlos Beltran traded away since his contract is expiring and we may also see Nova, Pineda or Eovaldi moved as well. Interestingly there are also whispers that have started in the last 24 hours that we are shopping Brian McCann as well. Personally I like McCann but with his production not where we would like it and Gary Sanchez waiting in the wings, getting out of McCann’s contract would be a big win as part of this sale.
The person these moves may have the biggest impact on may be Alex Rodriguez. While the Yankees were contending Alex would not crack the lineup due to his poor play so now in a rebuild there is really no place for him. At 41 years old he could be a great influence on young players, but for $21mil you need to have more value than “clubhouse guy”. Last night Alex started his first game since July 22nd and struck out 4 times showing that he will never return to form and that as part of a rebuild, his at-bats would be better used on a developing player. It’s not likely the Yankees make a move today but depending on how the rest of trade season goes, we could see the Yankees eating the $28mil owed to the artist formerly known as A-Rod.