Witt? What?! Get Him!!

by Paul Semendinger

May 25, 2026

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The rumors are out there. It is being said that the Kansas City Royals are considering trading Bobby Witt.

The Yankees need to get him. He is a star. He will turn only 26-years-old in June. He is signed long-term on a reasonable contract. He solves the Yankees shortstop problem. He solves the Yankees lead-off hitter problem. He is one of the top players in the game.

Witt led the league in hits the last two years and is leading the league in hits this year.

Get him!

Now, I know what most fans will say, "The Yankees should get him, but they can't sell the farm for him."

I disagree. Yes, they should.

The Yankees should be willing to trade their top minor leaguers for him. When the chance comes to trade potential talent for real, proven, big league stars, who are young - the smart team should always trade the prospects for the young star.

Always, always, always trade "would-be" for "what is."

Again, I know there are many that will say, "I would love to have Bobby Witt, Jr., but you can't give up George Lombard, Jr." Yes, you can, if the trade piece is Bobby Witt, Jr. Absolutely. You make that trade twice every day and four times on Sunday. 100% and always.

Getting Bobby Witt, Jr. would be the big move the Yankees need. It would be huge. The Yankees should do this, now. Get Witt in pinstripes even before the game today. Tell the Kansas City Royals to take whichever prospects they want. Give them the Top-5 prospects in the system. It's that simple.

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Trade the Top-5 Prospects for a star?! What???!!!

I know there are those that will say, "If the Yankees acted like this, always, they would have given up Mariano Rivera and Derek Jeter and Aaron Judge."

They're right.

But, more often than not, in the great majority of cases, the vast majority, the prospects who the Yankees hold onto don't work out.

(Quick aside, many point out the supposed rumored trade of Jeter for Felix Fermin as a way to make the argument to hold onto prospects. They state this trade example as if it happened, but, it didn't. It was a rumor, nothing more. Bottom line - that trade wasn't made.

But Felix Fermin was never Bobby Witt, Jr. I am not advocating trading the best minor league prospects for mediocre players. But, I am, absolutely, making the case for trading would-be talent for actual young stars.)

Let's take a look at how many times the Yankees would have been burned if they traded their top prospects each year going back to 2011. Let's say the Yankees traded all five of their top prospects every year for a legitimate young Major League star. Who would those Top-5 Prospects have been that were traded away? How many times would the Yankees have regretted trading them away?

Here are the Yankees' Top-5 Prospects by year along with some commentary:

2011: Jesus Montero, Gary Sanchez, Manny Banuelos, Dellin Betances, Austin Romine

The Yankees would have been burned on Sanchez (sort of) and Betances.

Also, remember, though, if the Yankees had just one more big time player that season, the odds of them winning the World Series (rather than losing in the Division Series) that year would have improved. None of those prospects helped the Yankees in 2011 and none would help until Betances made an impact years later - in 2014.

Would I trade the Yankee careers of Gary Sanchez and Dellin Betances for a 2011, 2012, or 2013 World Series Championship? Yes, absolutely.

2012: Banuelos, Betances, Sanchez, Jose Campos, Slade Heathcott.

The Yankees would have been burned on Sanchez (sort of) and Betances.

But let's take this one-step further, Banuelos, Betances, and Sanchez would have been gone in my scenario - traded the year before. So the next top prospects were Mason Williams, Dante Bichette, Jr, (Austin Romine- already traded) ,and Cito Culver.

See where this is going?

How many of these prospects made a difference for the Yankees, or any team?

2013: The Top-5 players not listed above were: Tyler Austin, Ty Hensley, Angelo Gumbs, Mark Montgomery, and Zolio Almonte

2014: J.R. Murphy, Eric Jagielo, Greg Bird, Ian Clarkin, and Aaron Judge.

Ok, here's where the hate on my idea comes. "You'd trade Aaron Judge?"

Yes, when one plays big, he's going to lose sometimes. I'd hate to lose Aaron Judge. But he's the first legitimate star the Yankees lose in this exercise. But, let's remember that the Yankees would have had other stars - the ones acquired in 2011, 2012, 2013, and now in 2014. Judge didn't become a star until 2017. Would I trade 2014 Aaron Judge as part of a philosophy that trades for stars in each of the six seasons before he became a star? Of course. One would be foolish not to.

Even if the Yankees lost Aaron Judge in my scenario, the talent they would have received year-by-year vastly outweighs all of the greatness that Judge has brought. (The best player, 26-years-old or younger in 2013 was a 21-year-old Mike Trout. In 2014 it was Clayton Kershaw. You get the idea. Sure, the Yankees wouldn't have Judge. But they would have had a comparable player - actually if they did this every year, they would have had a host of comparable players.)

2015: Luis Severino, Jorge Mateo, Rob Refsnyder, Jacob Lindgren, Luis Torrens

See how this goes? Many fans and writers and sportscasters and "experts" were sold on hosts of these players. Some of these players were "can't miss prospects." Experts were higher on some of these players than George Lombard, Jr.

Most, though, the vast majority, never panned out.

2016: James Kaprielian, Wilkerman Garcia, Dustin Fowler, Domingo Acevedo, Tyler Wade

2017: Gleyber Torres, Clint Frazier, Blake Rutherford (that year, those three were all ranked above Aaron Judge), Justus Sheffield, Chance Adams

Gleyber Torres was considered such a "can't miss" that he was ranked as the Number Three Prospect in all of baseball. Andrew Benintendi was first that year. (George Lombard, Jr. is ranked 21st this year.)

If these were 2017 would be screaming, "You can't trade Torres as part of a package for Witt (or a comparable player). Torres is one of baseball's best young prospects."

I say, absolutely, always, trade a prospect, even a few, for a legitimate young star. Always. And always.

2018: Estevan Florial, Miguel Andujar, Albert Abreu, Luis Medina, Frecier Perez

2019: Jonathan Loaisiga, Deivi Garcia, Clarke Schmidt, Anthony Seigler, Trevor Stephan

There was a period in the early 2000s where the argument was that the Yankees didn't develop talent. But all that supposedly changed in the ensuing years. The Yankees supposedly have a good system now.

Yet look at the names of the best in the system, year-after-year. Many of these are names of players who never reached the big leagues, if only, even, for a minute.

2020: Jasson Dominguez, Oswald Peraza, Luis Gil, Alexander Vizcaino, Yoendrys Gomez

2021: Austin Wells, Anthony Volpe, Kevin Alcantara, Alexander Vargas, Josh Smith

2022: Trey Sweeney, Ken Waldichuck, Hayden Wesnewski, Roderick Arias, Oswaldo Cabrera

I think one gets the point by now.

I'll argue that from 2023 on, the "jury" is still out, but who wouldn't trade the absolute (not the left-over) Top-5 Prospects from 2023 for 2026 Bobby Witt? Those Top-5 were:

2023: Anthony Volpe, Jasson Dominguez, Oswald Peraza, Austin Wells, Spencer Jones

Just for fun, here's the Top-6 from 2024, just two years ago...

2024: Marco Luciano, Jasson Dominguez, Yanquiel Fernandez, Spencer Jones, Roderick Arias, Chase Hampton,

If the Royals are willing to trade Bobby Witt, Jr., the Yankees should respond by saying, "We'll make you an offer you can't refuse. Take our Top-5 prospects right now: George Lombard, Jr., Elmer Rodriguez, Dax Kirby, Carlos Lagrange, and Ben Hess."

Right now there are some that are extremely high on George Lombard, Jr. (Never mind that many of the shortstops on the list above were also supposedly destined for greatness.) Some today might also still believe in Spencer Jones. (Jones, by the way, is just one year younger than Witt.)

The Yankees would be foolish not to offer that package for Bobby Witt, Jr. The bad news for the Yankees is that the Royals, would also be foolish to take it.

Prospects are just that - prospects. They might become great. Very few do. I listed 70+ would-be stars here. Only one, Aaron Judge, became a true star. Sure Gary Sanchez had a moment. Luis Severino had a moment, Gleyber Torres had a moment. Dellin Betances had a nice run - as a set-up man. Luis Gil had a great month. But,. of all those players, only Aaron Judge was a long-term star. Yet, for the vast majority of the names here, many felt they were destined for greatness.

History tells us clearly that most, if not all, five of the Yankees top prospects will never have a career closely resembling that of what Bobby Witt has already proved he can and will do.

If Witt is available, the Yankees should make that happen by offering the best of what they have. History indicates that they will not regret it.