Yankees: Which top prospects are untouchable in trade talks?

Estevan Florial

First on the untouchable list of players still in the minor leagues would be outfielder Estevan Florial, the Yankees second-ranked prospect per MLB Pipeline. Florial is only in advanced A-Ball in Tampa, but if you watched him during this year’s spring training you could see why the Yankees are so high on him. Over the past year, nobody has risen up the Yankees prospects rankings more than Florial.

The 20-year-old is still a year or two away from being called-up but he is a legitimate five-tool guy who projects to be able to stick as a center fielder in the big leagues. That’s something the Yankees don’t have much of at all throughout their system. With Aaron Hicks set to become a free agent in 2020 he likely will not be brought back. That leaves an opening for Florial to take over right around the time he should be ready to make the final leap up.

Justus Sheffield

Next up is the Yanks third-ranked prospect, left-hander Justus Sheffield. He was recently promoted to Triple-A Scranton and looks like someone who could make his big league debut at some point this summer. Sheffield was acquired in the Andrew Miller trade back in 2016 so you know he’s somebody the Yankees front office thinks very highly of.

Sheffield was reported to be one of the untouchables when the Yanks were in talks to acquire Gerrit Cole this past winter so I don’t expect that to change this summer. Trading him this season wouldn’t make much sense at all because of how close he is to making his big league debut. He’ll still have to conquer Triple-A before he gets the call but come August or September he could be given an opportunity to start in some games. In the case of an injury to the current rotation, he could be called up even sooner.

The Yankees could look at him as someone who could make the same kind of impact Luis Severino did back in 2015 when he was first called up during that season’s playoff push. Sheffield doesn’t have the ceiling of a Severino but he has the stuff to be a solid two or three down the road in the Yankees rotation.

Calling him up this year would essentially be like making a trade for a starter just without having to give up any assets. If Sheffield proves he’s the real deal the Yankees would probably be better off going in that direction.