Yankees Trade Rumors: What does the future hold for Clint Frazier?

On Saturday night the Yankees announced the acquisition of veteran DH Edwin Encarnacion from the Seattle Mariners. He’s expected to be in the lineup Monday night against the Rays and to make room for him on the 25-man roster the Yanks made the surprising move to option OF Clint Frazier to Triple-A Scranton.

With Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Judge both expected to make their returns at some point during the Yankees 10-day homestand, we all knew there was a good chance Frazier might be a victim of the roster crunch. However, I don’t think anyone expected him to be sent down to make room for Encarnacion before either Judge or Stanton returned.

The Yankees opted to keep Mike Tauchman on the roster over Frazier although it’s likely that he’ll join him in Scranton on Tuesday after he gets sent down to open up a roster spot for Stanton. According to Aaron Boone, the reason why Frazier was sent down first is they want him playing every day and with Encarnacion set to make his Yankee debut tonight he wasn’t going to be in the starting lineup. That being said, getting sent down before Tauchman had to be an even tougher pill for Frazier to swallow because he’s the better player and it’s not even close.

Obviously, a player with Frazier’s talent doesn’t belong at the minor league level especially after he hit .283 and slugged .513 with 11 HR and 34 RBI to start his season. He was also extremely clutch and posted an outstanding .375 AVG with RISP. Without his contributions, the Yankees wouldn’t sit atop the AL East standings today so you can’t help but feel terrible for him after he finally got his opportunity to play on a consistent basis.

Now he’ll go down to Scranton where he’ll have to stay ready. If another member of the Yankee outfield goes down with an injury he’ll be the first player called back up so it’s important that he continues to work hard in all aspects of the game.

Does Frazier have a long term future in New York?

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Frazier will remain ready for a return to the Bronx but I can’t help but think that part of the reason he was sent down is there are more moves to come after the deal to acquire Encarnacion. It’s no secret the Yankees are in desperate need for starting pitching help and after missing out on signing Dallas Keuchel the only way to get that help now is by making a trade. With Stanton and Judge due back soon and Encarnacion now in the fold, Frazier just became even more expendable than he already was.

As great as he’s been this season I don’t think anyone would be surprised if he was included in a package to acquire a front line starting pitcher in the coming days or weeks. It would probably take more than just Frazier to acquire someone like Madison Bumgarner or Trevor Bauer but he could be the centerpiece in any potential deal.

We’ll have to wait and see how things play out but unless another outfielder goes down with an injury before next month’s trade deadline it looks like Frazier’s days with the Yankees are numbered. It’s unfortunate because he could be the starting left fielder in 2020 but right now there’s just not a spot for him to play and the goal this season is to win a championship.

In order to reach that goal, the Yankees are going to need another starter and if the cost to get one has to include Frazier I don’t think Brian Cashman will hesitate to trade him in the right deal.