The Five Yankees Most Likely to Be Traded This Winter

Brett Gardner

Even after releasing Slade Heathcott, and trading both Ramon Flores and Ben Gamel in the last year, the New York Yankees have a ton of outfield depth in the upper-minors. Aaron Judge, Aaron Hicks, Mason Williams, Rob Refsnyder, and Clint Frazier all look close to big league ready, with Double-A standout Dustin Fowler not far behind.

The team would probably love to find a taker for center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury after his second straight disappointing season, but the logistics of moving his massive contract make that nearly impossible. He retains just enough star potential that eating $50 million to move him just doesn’t make sense.

Brett Gardner, on the other hand, still retains enough value to be tradable, even if the $24 million plus a $2 mil buyout owed to him doesn’t look like the bargain it might have a year ago.

Gardy’s power has declined precipitously for the third straight year, so even though he’s making more contact and getting on base more, his overall offensive production has regressed. As of this writing, he has a .263/.353/.364 (93 OPS+) batting line. His 16 steals are the lowest of any season in which he’s played at least 50 games.

Still, his ability to play a competent center field while producing something close to a league-average batting line should interest at least one club this offseason. The Washington Nationals have long looked like a good match on paper. Just don’t expect much aside from salary relief in return at this point.