Yankees Finding No Takers for Outfielder Brett Gardner

The New York Yankees have been shopping outfielder Brett Gardner since last winter, but no serious suitor for his services has emerged.

Coming off of his first career All Star appearance in 2015, Brett Gardner looked like one of the New York Yankees most valuable trade chips going into the offseason.

Compared to most of his elderly and overpaid teammates, Gardner looked like a relative bargain with three years and $36 million remaining on his deal. At 32, an acquiring team could still expect something reasonably approximating his prime years.

Rumors swirled around Gardner all winter. He was connected to the Indians, Cubs, Mariners, Angels, and others, but talks never seemed to progress very far. When 2016 rolled around, Gardner still found himself in a Yankees uniform.

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When the Yankees began selling off veterans at the trade deadline, Brett Gardner found his name in the rumor mill once again.

With promising youngsters Rob Refsnyder and Aaron Hicks already on the big league bench, and Aaron Judge, Ben Gamel, Tyler Austin, and Jake Cave having nice seasons in the minors, the time seemed right to trade Gardy in for a younger model.

August 1st came and went, and Brett Gardner is still on the Yankees roster. So why hasn’t the team pulled the trigger on such an obvious move? Jon Heyman of Today’s Knuckleball recently reported that the Yankees “appeared to find no serious takers.” 

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Heyman also cites one scout who claims that Gardner is “playing nervous” to avoid the nagging injuries that have slowed him down the stretch in years past.

Gardner’s offensive production seems to be declining steadily the past few years, especially his power numbers. He has been basically league average at the plate in 2016, hitting .265/.353/.382 (101 wRC+). Combined with average defense in left, and Gardner is basically an average starter all-around.

That does have some value, although combined with his age, injury history, and the money owed to him, it is easy to see why teams are not knocking down the Yankees door. The truth is, Gardner is the sort of uninspiring player the teams are replacing at the trade deadline, not the sort of guy they look to to provide an upgrade.

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This winter seems like the time for New York to finally break down and trade their homegrown outfielder, even if it means just doing a straight salary dump. There are just too many better options in the upper-minors to justify keeping Gardy on the roster in 2017.