Yankees Offseason Trade Target: Phillies Starter Vince Velasquez

One young starter the New York Yankees could kick the tires on this winter is Philadelphia Phillies righthander Vince Velasquez, who was reportedly almost dealt at the trade deadline.

General manager Brian Cashman and the New York Yankees are expected to explore all possible avenues to upgrade their pitching staff this winter, with a focus on acquiring one or more young controllable starting pitchers. One talented young arm who could be available is Phillies starter Vince Velasquez.

Philadelphia was apparently “pretty deep” in trade talks about Velasquez with the Texas Rangers in the days leading up to the August 1st trade deadline according to Jim Salisbury of CSNPhilly. While it might seem strange for the rebuilding Phillies to trade away a potential emerging star like Velasquez, it makes more sense when you see what their asking price was.

Discussions died because the Phillies were asking for two young hitters in return, including one that was MLB ready according to a subsequent report by Salisbury. The reporter speculated that could mean Philadelphia was interested in guys like Joey Gallo, Nomar Mazara, Jurickson Profar, and Lewis Brinson.

That would be a steep, but fair price to pay probably given Velasquez’s dominant performance at times this year. The 24-year-old pitched to a 4.12 ERA and 3.96 FIP in a career-high 131 innings of work, while striking out 10.4 batters per nine. One concern for the Yankees would be the home run rate (1.4 HR/9), but the stuff is so promising that they might be willing to overlook that.

Velasqiez’s primary weapon is his mid-90’s hitter that can touch 97-98 mph, but he also mixes in a change, slider, curve, and sinker according to Brook’s Baseball. The changeup is probably his best secondary pitch. His biggest issues are his command and control. Not only did he walk 3.1 per nine, but he makes a lot of mistakes within the zone.

Make no mistake, Velasquez is still a project, but there is front of the rotation potential and he has five years of control remaining. The Phillies are apparently willing to at least listen, probably because Velasquez has a reputation for fragility. He did miss some time in June with a biceps issue and was shut down at the beginning of September because he had reached his innings limit for the season.

For the Yankees, an MLB ready hitter would probably mean Aaron Judge or Clint Frazier, either of whom would be a very high price to pay, especially if the Phillies wanted a quality second piece. Could Judge’s struggles convince the team to sell before he loses all value?

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New York would probably prefer to deal from its wealth of lower-level position player talent. Using either Gleyber Torres or Jorge Mateo as a centerpiece in a trade for a pitcher makes sense, but it isn’t clear whether the Phillies would be interested as they appear to be gearing up to contend in the near future. Maybe Gleyber’s torrid Arizona Fall League performance would help convince them?