Yankees Rumors: Mike Minor can block trade to Bombers

Although the Yankees are doing their homework on 31-year-old left-hander Mike Minor, the Yanks are one of 10 teams he can block a trade to — thereby complicating matters.

Acquiring a player that has a specific team on his no-trade list isn’t unheard of. Many times, the trade candidate will use it to rework his contract — adding extra years and dollars to accommodate a move to a city that he perhaps never envisioned pitching in. Mike Minor to the Yankees could fit that bill.

Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic recently wrote that general manager Brian Cashman has kept a keen eye on Minor, dispersing Tim Naehring to watch him pitch last Friday versus the Astros.

Against the ‘Stros (a club the Yanks could potentially face in October), Minor wasn’t great but still pitched seven innings, allowing four runs (all home runs) on seven hits while walking one and striking out 10.

Now 8-5 on the season, the first-time All-Star boasts a 2.86 ERA, 1.16 WHIP, .226 BAA, 9.1 K/9 and leads the AL with two complete games and one shutout across 129 innings.

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Though some of his stats are worrisome considering the bandbox known as Yankee Stadium: 4.09 FIP, 3.1 BB/9 and 17 home runs allowed, Minor is signed through next season for a reasonable $9.8 million.

However, is he worth potentially trading a young commodity in Clint Fraizer or Deivi Garcia for? I’d venture to say no, but luckily, I don’t have to make those types of difficult decisions.

With Domingo German as the only Yankee starter that features an ERA below 4.00, the need is prevalent to reinforce the rotation for the stretch run — especially with the continued struggles of James Paxton and the increasingly likely shutdown of Luis Severino.

But Minor is a mid-rotation arm — which the Yanks seem to have an abunance of, so I’d be leery of adding him depending on the cost. It was only last week that Minor made it clear he wasn’t happy that his name was the topic of trade talks, so perhaps him coming to New York isn’t even worth considering.

However, with eight days until the trade deadline and no true ace readily available on the market, you might as well turn over every stone.