Stephen Drew? Why? The Yankees only gave up Kelly Johnson to get him, so at least this is essentially an our-crap-for-your-crap deal. What this signals is that Cashman wanted Drew in the off-season, couldnt get him because Drew wanted a full-time job, and Cashman settled on Kelly Johnson instead. Now that Drew has no say on the matter, the Yankees get him via trade and the Sox get the equally disposable Kelly Johnson and save $7 million for the rest of the season. Either way, this is a lateral move. Drew has actually been worse than Kelly Johnson at the plate, if you can imagine that. Hes hitting .176 with a .583 OPS. In the field, hes no better than the overrated Brendan Ryan. Just what the Yankees need, another sub-.200 hitter that is supposed to be a slick fielder, but isnt really all that great in the field. Thatll score some runs. Maybe hes a decent bunter? If this is a move designed to replace Jeter for 2015, hold on a second. Drews still a Boras client and is still a free-agent come this offseason. Theres zero guarantee hell want to come back to the Yankees next season and seeing as Boras is his agent, hell want much more than hes worth. Plus, Drew stinks, so why youd want him as the starting shortstop is anyones guess. What has me so up-in-arms about this deal is essentially the pointlessness. The last thing this team needs is a lateral move. Want to know how the Yankees should have treated this deadline? Look no further than Boston: This seasons done, what can we sell with an eye toward next year? (Of course, losing 8 of the last 9 helped make that decision easier.) Theyve done a good job once again at the trade deadline. Every deal theyve made sets them up nicely for 2015 at least. Yoenis Cespedes is an all-star and Allen Craig is a flat out masher, much like Mike Napoli. That should be a dangerous lineup in 2015 and when they likely re-sign Jon Lester, theyll have an ace in the rotation. How they actually got ANYONE to take Jake Peavy and get anything in return is a credit to the job theyve done...and they got a pretty good bullpen arm in that deal...not just a couple of throwaways. If the Yankees are afraid of waiving the white flag on the season because its not fair to Derek Jeter in his final season, my response is thats just too bad. So, the idea is to let this season tank, but keep telling (or lying to) fans via press interviews that we believe were still in the thick of the race. Meanwhile, future seasons are also being put in jeopardy because its owed to Derek Jeter to try to make something out of nothing during his farewell tour? Bull. It should be more like: Sorry Derek...we tried to buy a playoff caliber team for 2014 and the gamble did not pay off. Youll be leaving, but we have future seasons to think about here. Weve got to make any deal we can, even if that means surrendering this season. I know this kind of thinking is alien to the Yankees front office. Apparently, so is making deals that will actually help this team at some point in the future. I also know the Yankees dont have much to deal...which is why my previous post about Robertson still rings true in my mind. But, if Boston can wrangle Allen Craig for John Lackey and anything for Peavy, youre telling me the Yankees couldnt get a quality player back for Hiroki Kuroda? It can be done. Its the guts to actually do it that is the problem.
Posted on: Thu, 31 Jul 2014 21:02:22 +0000