Looking Ahead to the Next Potential Yankees Fire Sale

If the New York Yankees under-perform again in 2017, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see them sell for the second consecutive year at the August 1st trade deadline.

The Yankees decision to sell at the 2016 August 1st trade deadline was unprecedented and has completely changed the outlook of the  franchise over the next few years. With four trades, general manager Brian Cashman brought a huge influx of talent into the organization, 12 legitimate prospects and as well as beloved MLB swingman Adam Warren.

According to MLB Pipeline, the top two current prospects in the organization, shortstop Gleyber Torres and outfielder Clint Frazier, came over to New York at the deadline, as did five from their top 20 overall. Those acquisitions put them over the top as the game’s best farm system and set them up to be sustainable contenders again as soon as 2018-2019

This offseason,New York’s front office continues to try and straddle the line between contending and rebuilding. Signing Aroldis Chapman is a clear win-now move. Trading away Brian McCann and possibly Brett Gardner? Not so much.

I don’t mind that approach as long as the Yankees would be once again willing to sell off their short-term assets at the deadline next year if they are five or six games out from the second Wild Card in July. That’s not being a contender.

If anything, this year’s team is even more stocked with attractive trade chips on expiring deals that they could cash in for even more young talent. Let’s take a look at which big names the Yankees could shop next summer if things go south in 2017.