Yankees Top Five Priorities at the Trade Deadline

1. Get What They Can for Expiring Contracts

Whether they see themselves as contenders or not, the one player on the Yankees who needs to be moved before August 1st is Aroldis Chapman. The potential haul of young talent the team can net for a half-season of a reliever is one Cashman can’t afford to turn up his nose at if he hopes to continue rebuilding the Yankees.

Chapman fell into their laps for virtually nothing this offseason. If they can land a top 100 type prospect for him at the deadline, it would be a major coup for New York.

Ivan Nova is another player the Yankees should unquestionably be shopping hard before the deadline. They won’t get much for him, but whatever prospect they obtain in return will be better than the nothing they receive when he departs after the season. They have plenty of young starters to take his spot in the rotation. Nova’s just taking up space at this point.

The Yankees have two other expiring contracts in Carlos Beltran and Mark Teixeira that it would make sense to deal, but it would be understandable if they didn’t.

Teixeira has been awful this season and has no trade protection that he is hesitant to waive. If he turns it around in the second half, he could conceivably carry the offense like he did for long stretches of last season. The upside of keeping him is probably better than anything the Yankees could get in return.

Beltran on the other hand could probably be swapped for a nice prospect. A number of American League clubs could use the DH boost he would provide. Of course, he’s also easily been the Yankees best hitter. Dealing him either means they are resigning themselves to a mediocre offense going forward, or betting heavily on a youngster like Gary Sanchez or Aaron Judge to come up and replace his pop.

Next: Add a Big Bat (or Three)