Yankees: Cashman does it again, grabs Jaime Garcia from Twins

Yankees General Manager, Brian Cashman has done it again. In exchange for two prospects not named Torres or Frazier, the team handed a quality starter to their staff.

The Yankees have added talented left-hander, Jaime Garcia, to their starting staff via a deal just announced by the team. In exchange for Garcia, the Yankees are sending minor-league pitchers Zack Littell and Dietrich Enns to Minnesota, with Garcia and cash considerations being sent from the Twins.

In a string of irony that only the trade deadline can produce, Garcia had spent only a week with the Twins, who had acquired him from the Atlanta Braves. At the time, the Twins had jumped over the fence anticipating they were still a team with a good chance to make the playoffs.

Despite a quality start by Garcia, though, the Twins stumbled through the week with a 1-5 record, putting them back where they started, making Garcia expendable.

In dealing Ens and Littell, the Yankees gave up talent, but not THE talent (Gleyver Torres and Clint Frazier) that’s been mentioned, for example, in a deal with the Oakland A’s for Sonny Gray,

It’s not likely the Yankees would have room on their 40-man roster for Ens or Littell at the end of the season, and as unprotected players, the team would likely have lost them anyway.

Jamie Garcia, 31, has a 67-52 record with a 3.65 ERA in a nine-year big league career. Nearly all that time was spent with the St. Louis Cardinals in the National League. He averages just under one hit per inning pitched.

This deal in no way negates the team’s pursuit of another starter, particularly Gray, but it does give the team some insurance if that deal can’t be consummated.

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Littell, who is only 21, was especially hard for the Yankees to give up. According to the New York Daily News, Littell was 14-1 with a 1.87 ERA in 20 appearances (18 starts) between Single-A Tampa and Double-A Trenton. He is ranked the 22nd-best prospect for the Yankees, according to MLB.com.

But as these things go, you have to give to get, and that’s precisely what Cashman did in making this deal. And it’s even impressive when you consider that he was competing against several teams to land Garcia and fighting a fast ticking clock.

It’s likely that Garcia will take the mound, wearing Pinstripes for the first time, at Yankee Stadium when the Detroit Tigers roll into town beginning on Monday night.

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Or, the Yankees could decide to go with their regular rotation of Luis Severino, CC Sabathia, and Masahiro Tanaka against the Tigers, saving Garcia to make the start Thursday night in place of Caleb Smith when the team travesl to Cleveland for a four-game weekend series.

This is a good trade for both the Yankees and Twins. And once again, kudos, at least from this corner, for a masterful job of maneuvering by Cashman are warranted.

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