Yankees May Hit Big in Deal with Chicago

When Brian Cashman said that the Yankees would be “cautious buyers” leading up to this year’s trade deadline I didn’t expect the team to be part of any major deals. However, Cashman pulled off a major coup this week when he was able to land 3B Todd Frazier and relief pitchers David Robertson and Tommy Kahnle from the White Sox. When rumors started flying around on Tuesday night that a deal was in the works with Chicago, I started to get a bit worried. I was afraid that the Yankees would deal away some near major league ready prospects, especially considering Boston was also in on Frazier. My mind instantly went to the likes of Clint Frazier, Chance Adams, Jorge Mateo, and Miguel Andujar. What would it take to land three quality players from Chicago ahead of the Red Sox?

In the end the Yankees didn’t give away a haul nearly as large as I had feared it may have been. They gave up former first round picks OF Blake Rutherford and LHP Ian Clarkin, minor league outfielder Tito Polo, and to boot they were able to jettison RHP Tyler Clippard who has been a major disappointment this season.

The trade for Frazier has a double benefit for the Yankees. First off, the Yankees desperately needed to upgrade their first base production which has been abysmal. Frazier won’t be playing first base but acquiring him allows the team to move Chase Headley to first. The Frazier/Headley combo at the corners should give them more than they were getting out of Headley + Bird/Carter/Choi/Cooper. Secondly, the trade keeps Frazier off of the Red Sox who are in desperate need of an upgrade at third base and were in the market for Frazier.

Frazier is having a down season by his standards batting only .206 with 14 home runs and 41 runs batted in through 82 games. However, Frazier boasts good power (35 HR in '15 and 40 HR in '16). If Frazier produces like he’s capable of, the Yankees will have strengthened their lineup while preventing their biggest rival from upgrading theirs. Also, Frazier is a free agent at the end of the season so the Yanks won’t be stuck with an aging, overpaid player on a bad contract. They have Miguel Andujar and Gleyber Torres knocking on the door in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre waiting to stake a claim on the hot corner in the Bronx. So from a contract standpoint with Frazier, this is a low-risk, high-reward move.

As big as the potential added offense is for the Yankees, I think the two relief pitchers, Robertson and Kahnle, make this deal a potential great one for the team. Yankees fans will be familiar with Robertson from his stint with the team from 2008-2014. He succeeded Mariano Rivera as the team’s closer in 2014 before leaving as a free agent in 2015 when the team signed Andrew Miller to close. Robertson continues to put up solid numbers. So far this season he's 4-2 with 13 saves, 2.70 ERA and a WHIP of 0.96 in 31 games. Robertson was the White Sox closer but will mostly pitch in the seventh for the Yanks setting up Betances and Chapman. This gives the Yankees three “closer” quality relievers pitching the 7-8-9 innings of games. It's a model that the Royals were able to ride late into October back-to-back years.

In addition, the team picked up another young, quality arm for their bullpen in Kahnle. Kahnle came through the Yankees farm system before he was taken by the Colorado Rockies in the Rule 5 draft in 2013. He was then subsequently traded to Chicago in 2015 but this season has been a bit of coming out party for him in the Windy City. So far in 2017, he is 1-3 with a 2.50 ERA and 0.97 WHIP. Most impressive, however, has to be his 60 strikeouts in 36 innings. The best part about Kahnle is he's under team control through the 2020 season. If he can build on this year’s success in New York he could turn into the best piece of this trade for the Yankees.  

Rutherford is the centerpiece of the package going to Chicago in the deal. He was the Yankees first round pick in 2016 and currently the 30th ranked prospect in all of baseball. Rutherford has the potential to be a stud but he is only in playing in A ball and still a few years away from breaking into the show.

Clarkin, another former first round pick (2013) who has had rough start to his career pitching in only 178 innings in his first four pro seasons due to injury. He's currently pitching in high A ball and is still a ways away from the majors. Meanwhile, Polo is an outfielder who has split time between high A and AA ball in the Yankees system this year.

Overall, I like this move and think the Yankees are a better team both this year and the next couple years because of it. By upgrading their offense and bullpen, the Yankees have chance to overcome their struggles of June and July and give themselves a chance to come out on top in what is still a tight division race. It also gives them a well stocked bullpen for next few years with Roberston under contract for next year and Kahnle for a few more after that. Rutherford could eventually be a stud but I don’t mind trading a guy who is still in A ball, as much as a top prospect who’s in AAA and ready for the bigs. Also, with Clarkin's injury history there's no guarantee that he'll even reach the majors.

It’s always risky trading away top prospects, but in this case it’s a risk I’m comfortable taking since the Yankees didn’t only trade for high priced rentals. This is a trade that can’t truly be judged for another few years when we see what kind of players the prospects turn into and what kind of production the Yanks get from the trio they acquired. However, for the time being, it looks like Cashman has made another solid move.