Yankees: Who’s safe from Brian Cashman’s hand?

The New York Yankees have turned the tide on their bad habits of buying wins. As of late, the Yanks have primarily relied on trades to bolster their team.

Especially this offseason, in which the Yankees brought in last season’s NL MVP, Giancarlo Stanton along with Brandon Drury, both through trades.

On top of that, the Yanks have unloaded salary through the trading of players such as Chase Headley, Bryan Mitchell, Starlin Castro and Jabari Blash, who they recently acquired through trade.

With this all being said, general manager Brian Cashman seems to be reinventing himself. Instead of going about the improvement of his team through free agency, which the Yankees were notorious for, he is now showing his negotiation abilities as well as his all-around baseball knowledge.

But are there more trades to come? Or are the Yankees content with the team they’ve put together?

As of right now, I think the Yanks will sit still for a little while. With the trade deadline is months away, and Spring Training just beginning, there is no rush to rid the team of any potential puzzle pieces required.

Nevertheless, trade rumors will forever haunt a team, as the prospect of improving a team will always float around inside the heads of players, fans and front office personnel.

For these reasons, I see Jacoby Ellsbury as the first name atop the Yankees’ trading block. Being a former top player in the league, once hitting .321 with 32 home runs and 39 stolen bases all within the same season, Ellsbury is now over the hill, with a contract looking to end after the 2020 season.

Being that Ellsbury’s salary is a top figure in MLB, the Yankees are not looking to improve their team, in trading Ellsbury, but instead are looking to dump salary.