Thoughts following the 2023 trade deadline

Gonna need a new number, Keynan.

Would the Yankees buy or sell at the trade deadline? That was the question entering the week and the Yankees answered it with a shrug of their shoulders. They neither bought nor sold. They could have gone all-in and tried to get to the postseason, or they could have taken a step back and focused on 2024 and beyond, but they did neither. It was the worst thing they could do.

“We could’ve taken a wrecking ball to it, but we felt based on the opportunities that presented themselves that it didn’t make any sense whatsoever,” Brian Cashman told Greg Joyce. I gotta say, taking a wrecking ball to this roster sounds pretty great. They definitely should've done that.

Anyway, the Yankees made two small trades right before the deadline, picking up righty relievers Keynan Middleton and Spencer Howard in separate deals with the White Sox and Rangers, respectively. They were the last of the 30 teams to make a trade Tuesday. It was like the Yankees forgot it was deadline day and rushed to do something just to let everyone know no, we didn’t sleep through the alarm.

Rule 5 Draft eligible righty Juan Carela, my No. 29 prospect, went to Chicago for Middleton in a one-for-one trade. I assume he'll replace Jhony Brito on the roster whenever he joins the team (probably Wednesday). The Yankees traded cash for Howard, who is on the 40-man roster and was optioned to Triple-A Scranton. The Rangers designated him for assignment earlier in the day to make room for Austin Hedges, then the Yankees picked him up in a cash trade. They made the trade to jump the waiver line, basically. That is the extent of their deadline activity.

“We were aggressively trying to do more and be open-minded to a lot of things coming our way, but when the dust settled, we stayed the course with what we had,” Cashman told Bryan Hoch. “We felt that given the options that were available coming our way, this was the best play for us, with the team we had that is still within striking distance. Let’s try to find a way to figure our way through it, get ourselves in it, and see what we can do.”

I mentioned Middleton as a possible trade target last week, so hello to whoever in the front office is reading. You must’ve skipped over this part of my Middleton write-up though:

In 2016, the Yankees traded away Aroldis Chapman and Andrew Miller at the deadline, but they also brought in Tyler Clippard to backfill the bullpen. Could they do something like that again this year? Trade a core reliever for help elsewhere on the roster (cough King for Grissom cough) and bring in a guy like Middleton to replenish the bullpen and cover important innings? It’s worth considering, no?

The Yankees did not trade one of their core relievers for young talent – Joel Sherman says they put Clay Holmes out there but had a high asking price – and bring in Middleton to backfill innings. They brought him in to be their fifth or sixth best reliever. Maybe seventh. Middleton is a marginal upgrade and does not address an urgent roster need. It’s a pure depth move.

Howard, 27, is a 95-and-a-slider type and a former top prospect who hasn’t been top prospect-y in years. He has a 7.20 ERA (5.79 FIP) in 115 big league innings scattered across the last four seasons. The Phillies traded him to the Rangers in the Kyle Gibson/Ian Kennedy deal two deadlines ago. Howard has alternated between hurt and ineffective the last four years.

The Yankees have had success turning waiver claims and minor league signings into sturdy big league relievers, and maybe they’ll do the same with Howard. The trade deadline is not for bullpen reclamation projects though. The trade deadline is the last chance to meaningfully improve the roster and the Yankees, despite ample room for improvement, did not improve.

And, to make matters worse, just about every team the Yankees are competing with in the Wild Card race did get better. Here are the Wild Card standings:

1. Rays: 66-44 (+6 GB) (added Aaron Civale)
2. Astros: 61-47 (+2 GB) (added Kendall Graveman and Justin Verlander)
3. Blue Jays: 59-49 (+0 GB) (added Paul DeJong and Jordan Hicks)
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4. Red Sox: 57-50 (1.5 GB) (added Luis Urías)
5. Angels: 56-52 (3 GB) (added Lucas Giolito, Randal Grichuk, Reynaldo López, and others)
6. Mariners: 55-52 (3.5 GB) (traded away Paul Sewald)
7. Yankees: 55-52 (3.5 GB) (fart noise)

With all due respect to Middleton and Howard, the Yankees did not get better now or in the future. They accomplished nothing at the deadline. They didn’t solve the three-year-old left field problem, they didn’t put a band-aid on the offense, they didn’t add a long-term piece, they barely put in a dent in the offseason 40-man roster logjam. The Yankees accomplished nothing, truly.

"I'm sure some people out there say tear it down and sell, and other people are out there saying to add something big,” Cashman told Hoch. “There wasn't a big thing to add, to be quite honest, that was going to solve the immediate problems that we had. In terms of the sell stuff, there's certainly a lot of players here that are talented, that playoff teams would like to get their hands on. But in terms of trying to pry that away from us, it wasn't really worth it. It was like, I'd rather just keep it and take a shot."

What wasn’t worth it, exactly? Harrison Bader’s remaining value to the Yankees is tied up entirely in these final 55 games, which are becoming increasingly meaningless. I love Wandy Peralta, that guy rules, but what do his final 20-ish innings this season do for the Yankees? Barring a turnaround that at this point would border on miraculous, the Yankees are playing out the string. Getting anything is better than nothing when it comes to rentals.

The obligatory “we tried” reports surfaced throughout the day Tuesday. Holmes was out there. Sherman says the Yankees talked to the Rays about Manny Margot. Chris Kirschner says they wanted Dylan Carlson. Jon Heyman says the Blue Jays checked in on Isiah Kiner-Falefa after Bo Bichette got hurt Monday. Sherman says there was a conversation with the Phillies about Bader. Lots of talk but little actual action, kinda like the team on the field. Little action.

I have used the word “complacent” to describe the Yankees more times than I care to count the last few years. It’s time for a new word: rudderless. I don’t see a discernible plan, and if there is a plan, it sucks. The Yankees never put the pedal to the floor and really went for it during the Aaron Judge era. They also don’t build for the future. They just exist in a state of mediocrity with a roster that at all times has at least one glaring hole that is at least a year old.

There’s another word that describes the Yankees: arrogant. They are part Dallas Cowboys (living off a long ago dynasty), part Knicks (perpetually great attendance and ratings means there are no consequences for being bad), part Angels (two stars and a terrible supporting cast), and part Wilpon era Mets (an unearned air of confidence). We’re the Yankees, how dare you question us. 27 rings bro.

Case in point: Cashman is still talking about DJ LeMahieu, Anthony Rizzo, Giancarlo Stanton, et al getting on track as some kind of solution. “They're professionals. They're obviously extremely talented. Hopefully they're saving the best baseball for the last two months,” he said (video). How long did we hear that about Josh Donaldson? How are they still going on with this? Do they not realize how dumb it makes them sound, or do they not care? (They don’t care.)

Carela for Middleton is a perfectly reasonable and completely inoffensive trade in a vacuum. A cash trade for Howard is whatever. The individual moves aren’t the problem. The problem is the larger deadline strategy, or lack thereof. The Yankees didn’t buy, they didn’t sell, they didn’t get better now or in the future. How in the world does this team still not have a real left fielder? The bar for a successful trade deadline was on the floor and they still came in under it.

The pile of mistakes these last two years are adding up and starting to weigh the Yankees down, and the deadline was an opportunity to correct course a bit. This team wasn’t one or two trades away from contention, but the deadline was a chance to take a step in some direction. Buy, sell, whatever. Acknowledge this isn’t working, pick a lane, and take steps to correct it. The Mets certainly did. The Yankees didn't and they remain stuck between contending and rebuilding, which is the worst place to be.

Things are going to get worse before they get better. The first three months last season were a lot of fun, but they are so obviously an aberration when compared to the rest of the last three years, and for some reason the Yankees consider those three months their true talent level. They are delusional. I no longer have confidence in the front office and the coaching staff, and I never really had much confidence in ownership. From the top on down, everyone seems to have their head in the sand. The Yankees have completely lost their way.

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