Trading Didi Gregorius Could Be the Right Move This Winter

With an impressive stable of talented shortstops in the minor leagues, the New York Yankees could look to trade Didi Gregorius this winter after what may be a career year.

New York Yankees shortstop Didi Gregorius has taken a big step forward at the plate for the second consecutive season, hitting .285/.314/.472 through his first 440 plate appearances. His wRC+ marks have jumped from 76 in 2014, to 89 last season, and all the way to a 107 wRC+ in the 2016 campaign.

While his defensive numbers aren’t as impressive as in 2015, Gregorius has been the fifth most valuable shortstop in the American League this year by FanGraph’s WAR with 2.4 through 115 games played. He is not quite on that Manny Machado/Carlos Correa/Francisco Lindor tier of young superstars, but he is darn close.

After being relegated to the bottom third of the Yankees lineup most of the past two years, Gregorius is now hitting third most days. Didi was never expected to be a middle-of-the-order type guy, although his production this year says he is.

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The question is, can New York count on Didi’s bat going forward? Or is the young shortstop having a career year at 26?

After acquiring Chicago Cubs top prospect Gleyber Torres in the Aroldis Chapman trade, the Yankees have two young shortstops who rank in MLB Pipeline’s top 25 prospects (the other being speedy Jorge Mateo).

In addition, there are six shortstops in New York’s Top 30 prospects (Torres, Mateo, Tyler Wade, Kyle Holder, Hoy Jun Park, and Wilkerman Garcia), with a few other guys right on the edge of serious consideration.

While many of them remain in the lower levels, 21-year-old Tyler Wade stands out as a player who could be big league ready by next year after hitting .274/.373/.371 (114 wRC+) with Double-A Trenton.

If the Yankees believe Gregorius is playing above his head this year, they could decide to take advantage of his value being at an all time high and trade him for some much needed young starting pitching.

New York certainly has no strong motivation to trade Didi. He’s under team control for another three seasons, and the club could even look into offering him an extension if they want to lock him up. However, it’s worth remembering that no one really thought Gregorius was going to be this good, especially against lefthanders.

Next: Finding the Ideal New York Yankees Lineup

For next year, the Yankees could easily slide Starlin Castro over to shortstop as a stop-gap and give the second base job to Rob Refsnyder. That would be pretty ugly defensively, but they would be adequate until something better came along.

This may not be a popular idea, as Gregorius has been one of the most fun, likeable, and successful Yankees of the past two seasons, but it could make sense long-term given the club’s depth at shortstop.