The New York Yankees are reportedly one of the teams that are making a real effort to complete a trade for Chicago White Dylan Ceas Sox ace e.
This has been an eventful offseason so far for the Yankees. While they have been a bit more conservative when it comes to adding large sums of new payroll — although they made a serious effort to sign Japanese ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto — they have been aggressive in the trade market.
The organization made the first and biggest splash in the trade market this offseason when they were able to swing a blockbuster deal trade for San Diego Padres All-Star Juan Soto. The outfielder is a player they have had their eyes on for a couple of years and the trade was a huge win since they did not have to give up their top minor-league prospects for the impending free agent.
Entering the winter, a top priority was to bolster their starting rotation behind American League Cy Young Award winner Gerrit Cole. While there are still some notable free-agent pitchers available — Blake Snell, Jordan Montgomery, and Shota Imanaga — it seems their asking price may be above what the Yankees are willing to spend.
That may be why they are again looking to the trade block to address that goal, and they are reportedly in the running for the best pitcher available. On Thursday, The Athletic MLB insider Ken Rosenthal gave an update on the chase for White Sox ace Dylan Cease and where the Yankees fit into the equation.
“The White Sox are weighing offers for Cease, and the [New York Yankees] and [Baltimore Orioles] are among those to express ‘sincere’ interest, according to major-league sources briefed on the discussions.”
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While the Yankees’ rotation doesn’t look any beefier than it did the day they dipped into their pool and traded for Juan Soto (Dec. 6, for the record), the good news is the free agent market — in general — has moved at a glacial pace.
If the Yankees want to scare up money for a Jordan Montgomery reunion (current reports indicate they actually do), they might be able to do so in February. Montgomery’s market appears to contain the Yankees, the Rangers (Jon Heyman’s predicted landing spot), and the Red Sox, a team that needs to clear more money if they intend to go beyond Lucas Giolito this winter. The move might take some apologizing on Brian Cashman’s part, but the waiting game portion of the process is totally feasible for New York.
If they would rather acquire depth via trade, that market hasn’t moved much, either. Dylan Cease and Shane Bieber are still available. So are Jesus Luzardo and Edward Cabrera. Things might start to shift between Jan. 12 (when arbitration numbers are settled) and Jan. 29, per Jeff Passan, but we’ll believe it when we see it. That was supposed to be the case following Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s signings, too. Maybe the Dodgers fouled that all up by nabbing both. Maybe it’s Scott Boras controlling the top of the market with Blake Snell, Cody Bellinger and Monty. It’s probably that.
Regardless, the Yankees have some time left before spring training to put their ducks in a row and avert fan confusion. According to Jon Heyman, though, there are a few markets they don’t seem to care about directly. Japanese lefty Shōta Imanaga might as well be eliminated now; Heyman delivered a pretty withering diagnosis of the Yankees’ interest on Wednesday’s livestream.
“Yankees don’t really love Imanaga, from what I understand,” Heyman dropped (before going through any examples of teams that actually do like the lefty). “They think of him as more of a fly ball pitcher (who) may not work in Yankee Stadium.”
Turns out, the same due diligence and information overload that led the Yankees to focus $300 million of their (unspent) dollars on Yoshinobu Yamamoto also led them to count out Imanaga.
Snell is most likely not on their table either, though Aaron Judge could disagree and Heyman wasn’t willing to rule it out. For now, Wednesday’s most pertinent positive info came from Passan, who did a little process of elimination on Montgomery, claiming the Red Sox are more focused on the trade market at the moment (both clearing cash and adding pieces in exchange for young outfielders).
While the Red Sox and Marlins/Mariners chat (presumably), maybe the Yankees can make inroads on Montgomery, who Passan confirmed they’d like to reunite with. At least in Brian Cashman’s eyes, six years and $150 million for Montgomery seems to make more sense than $100 million for Imanaga.
For everyone’s sake, it’d be fantastic if any lingering “bad blood” dried up — and quickly.
