Yankees and White Sox: Hold on, there could be another deal coming

Yankees General Manager, Brian Cashman, is not one who starts something and doesn’t finish it. He took the tumble into the marketplace with the White Sox as a willing partner, opening the potential for more deals between the two.

The Yankees, under the helm of Brian Cashman, sent a flare out to Yankees fans who were wondering which way the team would go in finishing out the 2017 season. Would they stay pat, hoping for the best, or would they take the plunge into deep water in the hope of improving the team for this year, but at the expense of the prospects stockpiled in their system.

The blockbuster deal spun by Cashman and White Sox General Manager, Rick Hahn, shows two men willing to give and take, with each being able to sell the trade to both ownership and their fan bases.

And if you consider that it’s likely there were more names bandied about during their talks, but discarded in favor of the players eventually included, then it’s also likely that the seeds of other deals may have been planted. Which, in turn, raises the possibility that the two teams could still have another one cooking.

Do the Yankees still need a first baseman?

The Yankees, perhaps because they don’t have the heart to dampen the spirits of Greg Bird, who had ankle surgery this week but still insists he will wear a Yankees uniform again this season, need a major league first baseman now. Ji-Man Choi and Garrett Cooper are minor league players promoted only because they can fill a gap. But, they’re not the real thing.

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The rumor mill has the Yankees in a deal for Lucas Duda with the Mets, but you can count on one hand the times the two teams have engaged each other to finalize, and not just talk about, a deal. And it’s iffy as to whether or not Sandy Alderson, the Mets GM, will ever remove his head from the sand, so why bother?

Which brings us back to Hahn and the White Sox and, in particular, their first baseman, Jose Abreu. Abreau is one of those fly under the radar guys who plays with a losing team on the wrong side of Chicago.

2017 will be the fourth consecutive year that Abreu has driven in more than 100 runs, smashed 25 or more home runs while playing in 145 or more games. He has a .871 OPS and led the American League in slugging three seasons ago.

The man is a hitting machine. And, he’s durable.

Matching up for a deal

How to match up with the White Sox on a deal for Abreau is a key concern, though. The Sox received a haul of top pitching prospects in their deals with the Red Sox for Chris Sale and also from Washington when they traded Adam Eaton.

So, the question might be, do the White Sox want more starting pitching as insurance against the prospects they inherited, or do they want something else from the Yankees or are they simply done?

It would not seem likely that the Sox are done because once you start dismantling a team, you can’t suddenly make a u-turn. And it also seems sensible that Rick Hahn has noticed the current status of the New York Mets starting staff, once heralded as the staff that would bring multiple championships to the franchise.

It’s always about pitching, whether on the field or off the field. And the old axiom in baseball never quits when it reminds that you can never have enough pitching.

So, that means a hit on the Yankees core of prospects in return for Abreu. That could translate into a Bryan Mitchell, Chance Adams, or Justus Sheffield. Or maybe a combination of pitchers the White Sox have been scouting in the Yankees system who don’t have the same name recognition.

But again, to take you have to give. And that is the tone Cashman set in the deal he made with the White Sox late last night.

Add a little intrigue

I would bet a year’s pay (don’t get excited) that Todd Frazier was the last player included in the deal yesterday. And I would also bet it was Brian Cashman who insisted on his inclusion in the deal for one reason, which was to block the Red Sox from making a trade for Frazier, that would fill the gap caused by their release of Pablo Sandoval.

Hahn was going to trade Frazier anyway, but the fact that he went along with Cashman is telling because it shows that these two men have developed a working relationship.

And in this day and age when you have 29 general managers working 24/7, in many cases trying to save their jobs and willing to go willy nilly as the pressure of the trading deadline mounts, if you can find a trustworthy partner, you go with it.

Jose Abreu fits the Yankees. He’s controllable for the next two years and even though they are arbitration years the Yankees should be able to live with that. And if Greg Bird does come back, fine, they cut him loose granting Abreau free agency.

Next: It's okay, it's only a period of adjustment for Judge

But in the meantime, Cashman still has a hole to first base, and the answer just might be sitting on the North side of Chicago.