Thoughts after the Yankees trade for Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Josh Donaldson

:-(    (AP Photo)

You know what, let’s just go back to the lockout. That was better than this. Late Sunday night the Yankees made a trade that could make them worse at three positions if Josh Donaldson’s career-long calf issues continue to be an issue at *checks notes* ages 36-37. At least the Yankees have a good track record of keeping right-handed power hitters healthy. Here’s the full trade, which has been announced and is official:

• Yankees get: 3B Josh Donaldson, SS Isiah Kiner-Falefa, C Ben Rortvedt
• Twins get: C Gary Sanchez, 3B Gio Urshela

Is there another move coming to make this one make more sense? I sure hope so, but this is the same team that traded for Rougned Odor on purpose, so forgive me for thinking they might not be on the ball these days. Feels like we’re heading for “re-sign Anthony Rizzo, dump Luke Voit, and call it an offseason.” I hope I’m wrong. Here are my quick knee jerk thoughts on the trade that I'm sure to regret. I’m sure I’ll have more in the coming days.

1. The good. Let’s be positive and start with the good, okay? Rortvedt is a very good defensive catcher and a lefty hitter, two things the Yankees badly need. The 24-year-old is also under team control another six years, which solves the “what do the Yankees do at catcher after Sanchez?” question. Kiner-Falefa’s defensive reputation is excellent and the Yankees needed to improve their infield defense, especially given their recent emphasis on sinkers and changeups. Donaldson has had a sub-124 wRC+ once since 2013 and he hit .247/.352/.475 (124 wRC+) with 26 home runs just last season. You don’t have to look back far to see the last time he was a middle of the order quality hitter. Donaldson also brings the competitive edge I talked about in my Offseason Plan post. The Yankees haven’t played with much fire the last few years and I do think there’s something to be said for bringing in dudes like this, who’ve played at a very high level and won awards and all that. You know Donaldson won’t spook when the Yankees go to Fenway or the Trop in the middle of a race. Sanchez is a year away from free agency and the Yankees were a) unlikely to re-sign him, and b) get a draft pick for him. Trading him now contributed to getting his replacement at catcher and a bridge to Oswald Peraza and Anthony Volpe at short. Plus Sanchez and Aaron Boone couldn’t coexist anymore. Boone was always quick to bench Gary. The writing was on the wall when the Yankees hitched their wagon to Boone earlier in the offseason. Urshela’s bat took a step back last season and the numbers have never liked his defense as much as the eye test. If the Yankees didn’t trade him now, they may have never been able to trade him for value. This might have been the Yankees’ last chance to trade Sanchez and Urshela, so they did it, and they got three players in return who go directly onto their MLB roster.

2. The bad. The Yankees finally raise payroll and they spend the money on Donaldson? They took on his entire contract and owe him $21M each of the next two years, plus a $6M buyout of his $16M mutual option for 2024. It’s a $23M luxury tax hit. That’s what you spend the money on? You ignore this free agent shortstop class to pay for Donaldson’s decline years? Good grief (the net luxury tax payroll increase is $13.5M in 2022 based on arbitration projections). Kiner-Falefa’s defensive reputation is tied up in his Gold Glove at third base, which a) came in a 60-game season, and b) is a position he won’t play for the Yankees. The numbers were split on his glove at short last year (+10 DRS and -7 OAA) and I don’t know which to believe. The Yankees obviously believe it’s the former. Also, he hit .271/.312/.357 (85 wRC+) last year, which raised his career wRC+ from 78 to 81. The Yankees know only one player can hit ninth, right? The Kyle Highashioka/Ben Rortvedt catching tandem has a chance to be the worst in baseball, at least offensively. Rortvedt is a career .241/.316/.355 (93 wRC+) hitter in the minors and Higashioka has a career .234 OBP in the big leagues. That’s the real number. Yes, the Yankees needed to improve their defense, and they did that. They also finished tenth in the American League in runs scored last year and will be worse offensively behind the plate and at shortstop. They need Donaldson to stay healthy and others like Gleyber Torres and DJ LeMahieu to bounce back to stand a chance in the AL East offensively. A parade of calf injuries limited Donaldson to 483 of 708 regular season games the last five years, or 68%, and players usually don’t get healthier in the late 30s. And finally, unless Rortvedt is secretly a breakout hitter in waiting, which I suppose is possible, the Yankees did nothing to correct their lineup imbalance. Two righties out and two righties in.

3. Cole and Donaldson. Donaldson was the most outspoken hitter in baseball following the foreign substance crackdown last year and Gerrit Cole was his No. 1 target. Here’s what he told Dan Hayes (subs. req’d) last June:

“What these guys are doing now (is) performance-enhancing, to where it is an actual superglue-type of ordeal,” Donaldson said. “It’s not about command. Now, it’s about who’s throwing the nastiest pitches, the more unhittable pitches. It’s proven.”

…

“Is it coincidence that Gerrit Cole’s spin rate numbers went down (Thursday) after four minor leaguers got suspended for 10 games?” Donaldson said. “Is that possible? I don’t know. Maybe. At the same time, with this situation, they’ve let guys do it.”

Cole struck out Donaldson a few times after those comments (and stared him down) and now they’re teammates. Awkward! The Yankees care way too much about clubhouse culture for me to think they made this trade without consulting Cole. Cole and Donaldson are adults and pros, and I think this will be something they squash on Day 1. To the Yankees’ credit, this is the kinda thing they usually put to bed quickly rather than let develop into a months-long story. I can’t believe after all those Blue Jays years and all that stuff with Cole last year that the Yankees expect me to root for Donaldson. Just awful vibes with this team right now.

4. Goodbye, Gary and Gio. I will miss Sanchez and Urshela, two of my favorite players of the last five years. Gio is a rock star. Cult hero status all the way. Just an easy to love underdog who played hard. The Yankees need more players like him, not less. I hope he comes back for Old Timers’ Day. Dude is a legend. Gary’s last few years have been rocky, there’s no denying that, but he was the first of the Baby Bombers to come up and inject life into a team that had become stale in the mid-2010s. His 2016 run was one of the most exciting stretches in recent Yankees history and he was a centerpiece for the 2017 Yankees, far and away the most fun Yankees team since 2009. If the baseball gods have a sense of humor, Gary will hit like six homers as the Twins will turn the tide and eliminate the Yankees in the Wild Card Series. Would be fitting end to a chapter of Yankees baseball that’s become less enjoyable by the year.