Yankees: Bour would make the lineup fearsome again

Hopefully, the Yankees are doing everything they can, even if it means giving up top prospects, to land Justin Bour from the Miami Marlins. With him, the team would, once again, have one of the most fearsome lineups in baseball.

The Yankees, according to multiple sources, are on the hunt to plug their hole at first base, not only for this season but at least the next three years, by trading for power-hitting Justin Bour.

Bour, who will represent the Miami Marlins in tomorrow night’s Home Run Derby, is a 6′ 4″ 265-pound Virginian, with 20 home runs and 65 RBI and a .286 batting average in 2017. According to Baseball Reference, Bour’s 162 game average projects to 29 HR and 93 RBI to go with a batting average of .270. Does that remind a bit of Mark Teixeira?

Bour finished fifth in the 2015 Rookie of the Year vote and has a team friendly contract that would keep him in control of the Yankees through 2020. Is there anything not to like? And here’s the best part. With all players returning from injury following the break, this is that the Yankees lineup would look like.

Brett Gardner CF
Gary Sanchez C
Aaron Judge RF
Justin Bour 1B
Matt Holliday DH
Starlin Castro 2B
Aaron Hicks CF
Chase Headley 3B
Didi Gregorius SS

Already near the top in runs scored (third), the Yankees, at the very least, would maintain that production for the remainder of the season and perhaps even better it. Remember, Brian Cashman built this team based on having an explosive lineup with a hope and a prayer that the pitching would hold up.

It’s just a matter of what you are willing to lose to get what you want.

By and large, the starting pitching is doing its job, and the team ranks sixth overall in ERA throughout the major leagues. It’s the bullpen that’s had its shell cracked open, and the Yankees are moving to close that weakness in other deals to re-close the loop that was once the team’s strongest suit at the beginning of the season.

The bugaboo in any deal the Yankees would make, though, is that to get quality, they would need to give up quality. And for this team, that probably means digging into the depth of their minor league system.

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Bour, or any other player like him, will not come cheap. And whether or not a deal is made, a segment of the Yankees fan base is bound to be disappointed, because the first step in the process is likely to be when Cashman tells the Marlins, “Okay, which one do you want?” And that would be just for openers.

The Marlins have needs in both hitting (19th in the majors) and pitching (17th), so it’s a toss-up as to what they would want. Yankees fans who favor the team’s all-out youth movement should prepare themselves to lose at least two and possibly three Baby Bombers not named Sanchez, Judge, Severino, or Montgomery.

All others, including guys like Clint Frazier, Tyler Wade, Chance Adams, Justus Sheffield, and yes even the pride of the litter, Gleyber Torres are up for grabs in a deal that’s right for the Yankees now.

Rent-a-players, no. That’s for teams like the Dodgers and Astros who can get deep into the playoffs with what they have, needing only that one guy who can put them over the top this season, much as Andrew Miller and Aroldis Chapman did for the Indians and Cubs last season.

Apparently, the Yankees have decided on one thing, though. They will be players at the deadline, and they will lean more towards being buyers as opposed to sellers.

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Bour would be an excellent choice as a start towards replenishing a lineup that taken its share of dings over the course of the first half. It’s just a matter of what you are willing to lose to get what you want.

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