My Reading of the Trade Rumor Tea Leaves

I could be a fun couple of days

Jazz Chisholm is a Yankee. I’m still skeptical about how good of a hitter he actually is, but so far so good. I like the guy, a lot. Maybe my favorite post game interview of 2024. When was the last time a guy got a call from the Prime Minister after a trade?!

The Yankees insist that Chisholm is going to play a lot of third base. Chisholm insists that he’s a good infielder, so he should be able to play third. I love that attitude (we’ll get to the opposite in a second), but I won’t believe it until after the trade deadline passes. The Yankees don’t want to drive prices up if they are trying to trade for a third baseman.

If you assume that Chisholm won’t play 3rd, then the Yankees have an extra player. If you assume that the suddenly healthy Jasson Dominguez will eventually claim an outfield spot, they have two extra players. They are still short at third, maybe 1st, and very short in the bullpen.

We also have some tea leaves to read:

• Gleyber Torres is acting like he’s under some pressure. Aaron Boone approached Torres about third base, and Torres was pretty strongly against it in his private and public remarks.

• They are discussing trading Nestor Cortes.

• They are interested in trading for Tommy Edman.

• The were in on Isaac Paredes before the Cubs got him.

• They’ve been connected to starters Garrett Crochet, Tarik Skubal and Jameson Taillon.

• They’ve been connected to Pete Fairbanks.

• They’ve been connected to Blake Snell.

• They’ve been connected to Yandy Diaz.

Let’s assume for a second that all these rumors are true. A few things stand out. First off, trading Cortes makes no sense unless you trade for a starter. Second, trading for Tommy Edman makes no sense unless you either trade away an infielder or plan on planning Chisholm in the outfield. He’s an injured utility player.

It’s hard to make all of the pieces come together, but I think that the Yankees might pull off a crazy series of trades or one big three way trade before the deadline. Something like this:

• The Yankees trade for a third baseman and starting pitcher.

• The Yankees flip Alex Verdugo or Gleyber Torres for a relief pitcher

• The Yankees flip Nestor Cortes for a relief pitcher.

I think that all three of the veterans have value. Verdugo and especially Torres have shown signs of life lately. Cortes has struggled, but has a solid track record. Teams have gotten huge returns for relief pitchers so far this month, but maybe the Yankees can get around that cost by trading major league players.

There’s another big angle here: money. Torres, Verdugo and Cortes are making $14 million, $9 million and $4 million respectively. The Yankees might want to clear some money off the books to soften the cost of taking on a new contract in return. Maybe the Yankees are interested in Matt Chapman ($18 million) or Blake Snell ($32 million), but the Steinbrenners don’t want to pay their full luxury tax cost. Or maybe the budget is so tight that Cashman needs to clear room for Yandy Diaz ($8 million), Tommy Edman ($8 million) or Pete Fairbanks ($4 million).

I like to live dangerously, so here’s my probably wrong wild blockbuster deadline prediction:

• Theytrade Ben Rice et al. to the Rays for Yandy Diaz and Pete Fairbanks.

• They trade Spencer Jones et al. to the White Sox for Garrett Crochet.

• They flip Nestor Cortes to the Cardinals for Tommy Edman (repeat of the Hader deal!)

  • Edman plays third when he comes back from injury, Oswaldo until then.

• They flip Gleyber Torres to the Braves for one of their late inning relief pitchers.

  • Alternative: They flip Alex Verdugo to the Padres for one of their relievers.

I’m almost certainly wrong, but maybe not! But my deadline would be fun!