Yankees: 6 infield trade targets for the offseason’s final month

We’re exactly one month away from the start of Spring Training, and the Yankees don’t appear to have a definitive plan for second base or third base.

At the Winter Meetings, the Yankees dealt away both Starlin Castro and Chase Headley and have yet to replace either one of them.

Sure, the team added Jace Peterson on a minor league contract, but the 27-year-old Peterson batted just .215 in 89 games with Atlanta last year. He might keep Gleyber Torres’ seat warm for a couple of weeks while the Yanks squeeze an extra year of service time out of their top prospect, but that’s about it. Most likely, he’s another Donovan Solano.

Presently, Brian Cashman appears content to cobble together some combination of Peterson, Tyler Wade, Ronald Torreyes and Miguel Andujar until Torres is ready.

A reunion with Todd Frazier isn’t out of the question, but the Toddfather’s market price might be higher than the team is willing to pay. In an unusually quiet offseason, we’ve heard next to nothing about Frazier’s free agency.

With approximately $10-15 million of spendable money remaining, the club has been openly seeking to bolster its rotation. The Yankees’ starting five, though terrific when healthy, hinges on Masahiro Tanaka’s partially torn UCL and CC Sabathia’s poor, overworked knees.

The Yankees were heavily linked to Gerrit Cole (who, sickeningly, is now an Astro) in December and, according to MLB’s Bryan Hoch, they’ve recently exchanged numbers with free agent Yu Darvish.

Still, the Yankees don’t exactly need another pitcher. They’re not without internal options. Cashman has told us with a straight face that he’s planning on trying Chad Green as a starter. Domingo German looked terrific at the end of last season. Luis Cessa should be healthy. And both Chance Adams and Justus Sheffield will likely make their major league debuts in 2018.

If the team can’t wrangle any big-time arms before February, that available money might be better spent on another infielder. While young and promising, there are too many potential pitfalls with this current group for Cash & Co. to stand pat.

At this point, we know who the free agents are. But if the Yankees are looking for meaningful help at second base and third base, they should also keep an eye on the trade market. After all, Cashman has a real knack for acquiring undervalued talent.

All that is to say, here are six potential infield trade targets for the Yankees as we near the end of the 2017-18 offseason. These players vary in their roles and contract sizes, but they’re either one-year rentals or long-term controllable.

With Torres and Andujar on the way, there’s no point paying a veteran for multiple years if he’s going to be displaced anyway. Alright, enough preamble.