The Five Yankees Most Likely to Be Traded This Winter

The New York Yankees could continue the housecleaning they started at the trade deadline by shipping out even more veterans this winter.

The Yankees front office drew nearly universal praise for their decision to sell at the August 1st deadline, bringing in 12 legitimate prospects by trading three players on expiring contracts and a reliever. GM Brian Cashman set New York up with one of the best farm systems in baseball and seems committed to building from within.

At this point, it’s not clear just how much further this tear-down will go. Moving the players who were going to depart for nothing following 2016 was a fairly easy decision. New York could now double-down on its rebuild and trade away even more veterans to open up jobs for the next generation, or they can continue to try and straggle the line between contending and rebuilding as they have been the last two years.

A recent report by Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports indicates that the team is sticking to its plan to get under the luxury tax in the next two years, which could provide further incentive to move some of the bigger salaries on the books, especially at positions where the Yankees have considerable depth in the upper-minors.

Here are the five Yankees players who seem most like to be moved during the 2016-2017 offseason:

Brian McCann

Although McCann is reportedly happy in his new role as backup/mentor to rookie starting catcher Gary Sanchez and part-time designated hitter, there are definitely reasons to think he may not return to the team in 2017.

With the breakout performance of Kyle Higashioka in Triple-A this season, New York arguably has four quality MLB backstops ready to go in the system. As the oldest and most expensive, McCann seems like the obvious candidate to be moved given the organization’s rebuilding efforts.

New York discussed McCann with both the Texas Rangers and Atlanta Braves prior to this year’s trade deadline, and reportedly agreed to resume talks with the Braves in the offseason.

McCann does have a no-trade clause, but it seems pretty reasonable that he’d be willing to waive it to go back to Atlanta, where he played the first nine years of his MLB career and still makes his offseason home.

The biggest obstacle to a deal seems to be the two years and $34 million remaining on his contract, with the Braves only willing to pick up around half the remaining salary and send just middling prospects in return. They will have to budge off of one of those positions to get a deal done.

The match between the two clubs makes so much sense that it feels inevitable that this trade gets done eventually. McCann will add some legitimacy to a thin Braves offense and provide an excellent tutor for their young pitching staff.

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.

Jorge Mateo

It seems all but certain that the Yankees will ship out at least one of their top position player prospects to land a young pitcher, and Jorge Mateo seems like the most likely candidate because of three factors.

First, the acquisition of Gleyber Torres from the Cubs at the trade deadline didn’t exactly make Mateo expendable, but I’m sure it doesn’t hurt their willingness to move him this winter. The system is chock full of talented shortstops, which is hardly a problem, but it’s definitely an area of depth they can deal from.

Second, he’s been one of the more disappointing prospects in the system this year. His power numbers declined significantly (SLG dropped from .392 to .379), he stopped swiping as many bags (82 SB vs. 36), and he struggled to get on base consistently (.306 OBP).

Finally, the team seems to have soured on his makeup for whatever reason. He was suspended for two weeks for an unreleased infraction, which was followed by a mini-soap opera where multiple versions of the story surfaced and were disputed.

Whatever happened, Mateo is probably in the dog house for his performance both on and off the field, making him an easy guy to move, especially because the industry still considers him to be a top-50 talent. If New York doesn’t think he has what it takes to progress, they may be better off moving him now before his stock slips further.

Michael Pineda

It may seem strange to suggest Big Mike will be moved, but consider that his contract will be up following the 2017 season. Unless the front office wants to discuss an extension, they should be listening to offers on Pineda this winter.

Several teams checked in on Pineda and Nathan Eovaldi at the trade deadline, but ownership was reportedly unwilling to move the pair of young starters, believing they would be crucial to the club’s 2017 chances.

With Eovaldi out for next season, Pineda is more important to next year’s rotation than ever. Because of that, it seems like there are two situations in which he could be moved.

One, the team fully commits to a tear-down, trading off all short-term assets for prospects.  It could happen, but doesn’t seem to be in character with what Brian Cashman has been doing. With the free agent starting pitching market largely barren, the Yankees could land a hefty return for Pineda, so it might be a smart move long-term, even if it isn’t palatable to an impatient fan base.

The other, more realistic, scenario in which Pineda gets moved is as part of a larger deal or part of a series of moves. He could be an intriguing secondary piece in a larger blockbuster, or be dealt to recoup young talent if New York goes after a big fish like Chris Sale or Sonny Gray this winter.