SSTN Mailbag: Trade Deadline Fever

This was a bad, bad week for Yankee fans. It becomes incredibly tiresome to watch a team that continually fails, season over season, in entirely predictable ways. Do the Yankees need some help with the roster? Yes. Is this team more than talented enough to win plenty of regular season games as currently constructed? Contrary to some of the current conversation Yankee fans are having amongst themselves, the answer to that question is also yes. That's where the problem becomes immediately apparent.

On paper, the Yankees remain a better team than the teams to whom they lose, even with the construction flaws each of us can name by memory. The problem? The Yankees have a coaching staff and organizational philosophy that continually doesn't get the best out of its players; allows good prospects (this isn't about media hype; I'm talking about prospects the scouting and front office community find desirable) to stall or regress at the big league level; and has a consistent aversion to fundamentals in all facets of the game.

Aaron Boone has been the manager of the New York Yankees for 8 years. He has shown no growth in the ability to get a team to play good, fundamental baseball. If anything, he has regressed on that front. Last year, after the World Series fiasco, we were told the Yankees wilted because the players employed around the diamond were poor defenders. The Yankees went out and put together a team of good defenders and baserunners, and yet the troubles continue. When you change the players year-over-year for the last 5 years and the results remain the same, maybe the issue is with the guy in the dugout as opposed to the guys on the field.

Aaron Boone seems like a great guy, and I wanted him to succeed. I don't think the Yankees can win a championship with him at the helm. My biggest issue with Brian Cashman and the front office isn't with roster construction; it's that with Boone's continued employment, Cashman and the front office continually signal that watching players and the team as a whole play well below its potential is okay, and in alignment with any pursuit of a championship. Change is desperately needed, but I'm not sure that even immediate change can save this season.

As always, thanks for the great questions and keep them coming to SSTNReadermail@gmail.com. In this week's SSTN Mailbag, we've got a lot more hot stove and trade deadline talk! Let's get at it:

Patrick K. asks: Outside the box: Spencer Jones for Noelvi Marte of the Reds. He was the headliner in the Castillo trade and just coming back from injury. Reds need outfielders, we need a 3B. I know the PED suspension. I don't know the particulars here, but neither does anyone else. We've had our share of users, a recent one very instrumental in 2009 title! What do you think?

I don't like the PED suspension, but it doesn't play into my evaluation of whether or not he's a good target. Marte is an incredibly talented player, which is why he was long considered one of the top prospects in all of baseball. He has great speed and burst; Statcast has him pegged as an elite runner, though in true baseball terms, he's a 65 on the 20-80 scale for how it plays as opposed to a 70 or 80 runner. As a hitter, he has plenty of bat speed and power potential. He isn't striking out a ton, but he takes a lot of swings and won't walk much. I think his approach at the plate leaves a lot to be desired, though the talent is there for Marte to be a consistently impactful bat.

The biggest issue with Marte is defense. He moved off of SS relatively quickly after the trade to the Reds; he's been an absolute butcher at 3B, to the point that he's been nearly unplayable there; and now the Reds are trying him in RF on the fly. Marte has an excellent arm, but he has stiff hips, poor hands and timing, and I think his days on the infield dirt are finished, making him a poor fit for the Yankees.

However, Spencer Jones is worth discussing in this space. I have long been on record (dating back to his first professional season) stating that I did not think that Jones' bat would translate to the MLB level. Over the last few months, he is doing everything in his power to make me look as wrong as possible. That trend has increased exponentially in recent weeks. On the one hand, some would make the argument that Jones' stock will never be higher. My brain is inclined to make that argument...but then again...

Jones is stretching the boundaries of what is possible with a whiff rate as high as he runs. It is eerily similar to Aaron Judge's whiff rate, which is at or near the bottom of MLB...but Jones is in AAA, not the majors, and the jump from AAA to MLB has never been greater. I think Jones will have an incredibly difficult transition to Major League Baseball. However, I also think he's done enough to turn raw tools into actionable baseball skills that Jones might now be one of the more interesting projects in baseball. I'm not inclined to do this, but let's also give the Yankees some credit - they have experience turning absurdly sized humans with huge raw tools into great players.

Again, my brain tells me to deal Jones now while some teams are buying into the performance. My gut, for the first time in Jones' career, is telling me to let this play out and keep Jones in the fold. I'd need to get a long-term, MLB quality piece to trade Jones right now. I don't think Marte fits that mold.

Fuster asks: assume the Yanks want Suarez and that the Snakes demand two young pitching prospects in. return

assume further that the Yankees refuse to send Warren or Schlittler, begging off due to immediate need.

1) which prospects make for a fair package;

and

2) is it possible to include the injured AJ Puk as part of the trade, as one of those PTBNL guys?

For the purposes of the question, I'll assume that the Diamondbacks want 2 pitchers, but without including one of Warren or Schlittler, the Yankees likely wouldn't have the juice to make a deal for Suarez. Everyone on the market will require an overpay relative to their raw value given the relative scarcity of sellers, and the lack of difference makers on the market this year in general. The Yanks would have to headline the package with Elmer Rodriguez-Cruz and Carlos Lagrange, and I don't think that gets it done.

In this market, I think it's going to take a trade that looks something like Schlittler as the headliner and one of Rafael Flores or Edgleen Perez as the secondary piece of any deal. The Snakes also need a 1B, so I wouldn't be shocked to see someone like TJ Rumfield in there as a throw-in.

...and no - I don't think the D'Backs will include Puk in any deals this year.

Michael G. asks: We keep hearing about Suarez, McMahon and Hayes. Are their any Chisholm types available? Guys who aren't necessarily 3b but could handle it and have some team control left? To me none of the 3 3b are all that exciting. 

I love this question, and it's one I've asked myself over the last couple of months. The more I dig, the more empty my answers are. The only guy on a selling team that jumps out at me is Carlos Correa, but the Yankees stayed far, far away from him when he was a free agent, and he has consistently said he won't wave his no-trade clause.

The name I'll give you is the one I threw out last week, and he's actually my favorite target out of the group: Willi Castro. A consistently good hitter who plays all over the diamond. His best positional fits are 3B and corner OF, but he's also played a lot of 2B for the Twins so far this year. He does everything you want a baseball player to do well. He has some pop, draws walks, and runs well. Oh, and he's a switch hitter. I think Castro makes more sense for the Yankees, given his versatility and well-rounded play style, than some of the big names.

Alan B. asks: Since Paul named you GM last week, with the team playing like it is, what are your personal thoughts on making traded to help this club. Do you go all in, using strictly prospects, or using some real contributing current Pinstripers to help improve this club? Or do you make a real shocking move or 3 (not a typo) to shake this bunch up? I'm talking like registering 8.1 on the Richter scale.

As GM, my job is to consistently seek to make the team better both in the near-term and the long-term, and yes, I would make a fair number of deals at the trade deadline this week. My blueprint from last week's SSTN Mailbag stands, even with the Yankees' face-plant against the Blue Jays. Lombard is the only untouchable prospect in the system. The team has played poorly for a month and a half, but despite that, the AL remains wide open. Re-tooling at the deadline can prime the team for a run. Smart trades and good baseball give the team a path to the World Series this year.

I will say that given some of the prices I'm hearing, I was almost certainly light on one or two of those trade deals in last week's Mailbag. Also, while Morejon is my big target with the Padres, I'd also settle for one of the guys in the performance tier immediately below Morejon with a similar offer...maybe Robert Suarez?

I'm not big on flashy moves for the sake of making headlines or shaking things up. I leave the tabloids to the Mets. I think there's a path to win this year and in the future, and the Yankees should explore every avenue to make it happen.