Yankees Trade Carlos Beltran to the Rangers

The New York Yankees have reportedly traded rightfielder Carlos Beltran to the Texas Rangers in exchange for pitcher Dillon Tate and two other MiLB arms.

Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports is reporting that the New York Yankees and Texas Rangers have completed a trade that would send outfielder/designated hitter Carlos Beltran to Arlington for the fourth overall pick of the 2015 draft, pitcher Dillon Tate and two other minor league arms.

The secondary pieces were later revealed to be MiLB righthanders Erik Swanson and Nick Green. Both guys are middling starters who haven’t pitched above A-Ball and have little-to-no prospect pedigree. Still, can’t have enough young arms I guess.

Texas lost designated hitter Prince Fielder to season-ending neck surgery recently, but have seemed lukewarm about pursuing an outside upgrade. That seemed like a very reasonable position given the depth currently on their roster, but they ultimately opted for the certainty that Beltran provides them in that role

It’s bittersweet to see this trade get done. The Yankees have already come so far in their rebuilding efforts that there is no point in taking half measures now, but Beltran was a big part of their limited success this season. Losing him is losing any last shred of playoff hopes for 2016.

More from Yankees News

• Mets stealing New York Post’s entire Yankees offseason plan is hilarious
• Yankees add to championship core with Wilmer Difo signing
• Aaron Judge’s ‘breadcrumbs’ showed he was never leaving Yankees, has more moves in mind
• Yankees analyst Cameron Maybin projects surprise landing spot for Gary Sánchez
• Yankees swipe intriguing minor-league FA lefty flamethrower from Braves

By all accounts, Beltran was also an excellent mentor to the younger members of the club and very valuable as a veteran leader. It’s a shame he had to go, but it’s nice to see the Yankees committing to building for the future.

Hopefully they can find takers for Ivan Nova and Mark Teixeira as well, so all the dead wood is cleared aside and the team can get down to the business of assembling a winner for 2017.

Dillon Tate was a consensus Top 100 prospect before the season, but has struggled mightily in his first extended taste of professional ball. He has a 5.12 ERA and 3.7 walks per nine innings for the Rangers’ Sally League affiliate.

Tate was ranked the number five prospect in the Rangers system before the trade by MLB Pipeline. Here’s a snippet of their free scouting report:

"Tate can dominate hitters with two pitches, a lively 92-98 mph fastball and a sharp 85-89 mph slider. However, his velocity and the quality of those offerings has fluctuated since he strained a hamstring and missed three weeks in April. He has improved his changeup since he started using it more often, but it still has a ways to go before it becomes a reliable third pitch."

Despite his mixed results in the minors, Tate was considered the best starting pitching prospect in the draft just over a year ago.

Next: Yankees Prospect Profile: Clint Frazier

Acquiring him his yet another feather in the cap of the new farm system. He will compete with the injured James Kaprielian and Ian Clarkin for the title of Yankees best pitching prospect next season.