Evaluating the Yankees’ Trade for Starlin Castro

Despite a bit of an up-and-down season at the plate, Starlin Castro has handily established himself as the Yankees second baseman of the present and near future, so It’s time to evaluate the trade that made him a Yankee.

From a Yankees fan perspective, this season has not been fun. Other than a three-week stretch in May, the Yankees have stunk up the joint. One guy that I have enjoyed watching, however, is the Yankees new second baseman, Starlin Castro.

Has Castro been perfect this season? Absolutely not. Is he leading the league in hitting? No. Is he better than the stream of garbage–Martin Prado and Rob Refsnyder being all-too-brief-exceptions here–the Yankees have seen man second base since Robinson Cano left the Bronx for the granola-filled pastures of Seattle? You better believe he has.

Look. I mean no disrespect towards guys like Brian Roberts, Kelly Johnson, Yangervis Solarte, Dean Anna, Stephen Drew, Brendan Ryan, Gregorio Petit, Dustin Ackley, and Jose Pirela, but good lord! We went from having arguably the best second baseman in the league–and one of the best in franchise history–to having a collection of has-beens and never-weres that could barely swing a bat. It was tough.

Now, with Castro at the helm, the Yankees have a somewhat reliable bat in the lineup, and excellent defense–especially when paired with double play mate Didi Gregorius–solidifying the middle infield on an every-day basis.

As I write this, Castro is hitting an unspectacular .249/.286/.406, but he’s had a couple of big hits this season–like when he broke up Jake Odorizzi’s no-hitter with a two-run homer that ended up being the team’s only hit in a 2-1 win–and he’s head and shoulders better than we’ve had.

Let’s take a look at how Adam Warren and Brendan Ryan, the two players the Yankees gave the Cubs for Castro on December 8th, are doing with their new clubs.

Adam Warren, RHP

When I wrote up Warren’s report card for another Yankees blog this past offseason, I gave him an A. Despite never having a defined role–you could argue that “swingman” is a defined role, but it lacks consistency for my tastes–Warren performed extremely well last season.

Whether he was starting regularly, coming in as the Seventh Inning Guy™, or just as a long reliever, Warren was awesome last year. In 43 games (17 starts), he put up a 3.29 ERA (3.59 FIP), won 7 games and had a WHIP of 1.165. No matter what inning he pitched, Warren got guys out, and that’s all you can really ask.

Despite the fact that I really wanted Warren in the 2016 Yankees rotation, I was OK with the Castro deal. Now two months into the season, I’m happy to report that I’m still happy with it. It’s not that Warren hasn’t performed well with the Cubs. He’s actually been pretty good. In 17 games, he’s pitched 18.1 innings, and sports a nifty 1.96 ERA (the 5.84 FIP makes this a little less impressive), a 1.091 WHIP and he’s 3-1.

The problem for me is that he only has 18.1 innings. I know the Cubs have a full rotation, but 18.1 innings out of a guy like Warren in two months seems like a total waste. Because the Cubs aren’t really utilizing him to the best of his abilities, and the fact that Castro has been solid, I take this as a win for the Yankees.

We miss you, Adam. But not all that much.

Brendan Ryan, IF

If you were paying attention early in this post, you know that I included Ryan in the “stream of garbage” that we had to deal with at second base in 2014 and 2015, so you can probably guess that I’m not exactly heartbroken about his inclusion in this deal.

If you can believe it, Ryan spent the better part of seasons on the Yankees. He was hurt most of the time, and terrible when he did play–even his much ballyhooed defense wasn’t that great during his stretch in pinstripes–but he did a great job of taking up a roster spot, didn’t he?

In those three years with the Yankees, Ryan only got 289 plate appearances in 113 games. He hit .201/.244/.271 and made 16 errors while playing all four infield positions. He did manage to pitch two shutout innings against the Astros in a blowout, but that’s not exactly something to write home about.

So how’s Brendan doing on the Cubs? Well, he’s not doing anything on the Cubs, and he never did. The team released him two weeks after the trade (it was expected they would, he was a throw-in for money purposes). He didn’t even get to spring training with them. He managed to catch on with the Nationals in February, but he started the season in AAA, and was traded to the Angels on May 10. With the Angels, Ryan went hitless in 12 plate appearances, and was recently designated for assignment, cleared waivers and was sent back to AAA.

I’m fairly certain his major league career will be over soon, and he had basically no impact on this deal, so this is a wash. At least this deal got him off the roster and opened up a spot for guys like Refsnyder and Ronald Torreyes.

Final Thoughts

Essentially, this deal was a one-for-one swap. The Yankees got Starlin Castro, who should provide some stability at second base for the next few years (unless he gets traded when the Yankees hopefully go on a selling spree this summer), and the Cubs got Warren, a guy they’re barely using.

If Warren were starting for the Cubs, or performing like he did last year for the Yankees, I might be singing a different tune, but, in my opinion, this trade has been a big win so far for Brian Cashman and the front office.

I think Castro’s production will improve, especially if the Yankees can put some living, breathing humans in the lineup around him over the next couple of years, which will make this deal look even better. I don’t think he’ll be here past his current contract, which expires after the 2019 season, but he doesn’t need to be. The Yankees already won this deal.

Related Story: Yankees Get Starlin Castro for Adam Warren

Just the YES Network commercial with Didi evens out the Brendan Ryan portion of the trade. Watch it below, and let us know what you think of this deal in the comments!