Yankees: 3 players Brian Cashman should regret missing out on at deadline

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New York Yankees GM Brian Cashman claims he doesn’t regret standing pat at the deadline, but…come on, man, these moves would’ve been easy.

The Yankees have a difficult pathway to navigate every single year: How do you make fair and balanced trade deadline deals when the entire rest of the league wants to see you fail?

This year, if we believe Brian Cashman’s comments, things were more difficult than ever.

Cash claims to this day that every deal he was offered would’ve made the team’s prospects worse in the long-term, which isn’t exactly what fans want to hear, considering their prospects are hovering around rock bottom as their .500-ish record craters.

The Mike Clevinger and Lance Lynn deals on the table seemed to fall into the same insane category as 2019’s “Matt Boyd for Gleyber Torres” talks. Never gonna happen, no matter how much bargaining was done.

But there simply had to be some marginal upgrades available, right? Something that would’ve injected even a modicum of joy into the fan base, while lending stability to the creaky parts of the roster?

Looking back on it a week later, we still do not understand why the Yankees weren’t in on these three targets to a stronger degree, nor what asking price could’ve possibly dissuaded them from participating.

Relief pitcher Mychal Givens #60 of the Colorado Rockies throws against the Los Angeles Dodgers during the sixth inning at Dodger Stadium on September 4, 2020 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images) /

3. Mychal Givens

The Yankees couldn’t outbid the Rockies for Mychal Givens? Or didn’t want to?

Ahh, remember Aug. 31? When the Baltimore Orioles were still sellers instead of world-beating behemoths who are knocking on the door of the postseason, at the expense of the Yankees? Good times, indeed.

In the final throes of deadline day, the O’s jettisoned both Miguel Castro (to the Mets) and Mychal Givens (to the Rockies) from their bullpen, and over a week later, the question still lingers.

Why did the Rockies want Givens? And why couldn’t the Yankees leapfrog them? Was … was Brian Cashman outsmarted by the dysfunctional Rox?

Givens cost Colorado prospects Terrin Vavra and Tyler Nevin (Phil’s son!), who now rank as Baltimore’s No. 13 and No. 23 prospects, per MLB Pipeline. Does surrendering talent at that level really leave the Yankees immeasurably worse in the future? Perhaps that equates to former LSU infielder Josh Smith and a wild card from the mid-20s.

The Yankees once gave up Nick Solak AND Taylor Widener for Brandon Drury, the most minor of upgrades. If you believe in your roster, you can justify giving up similarly mid-range prospects for Givens, who sports a 2.16 ERA on the year, with his own imitation of Adam Ottavino’s frisbee slider.

Archie Bradley #23 of the Cincinnati Reds pitches during a game against the St Louis Cardinals at Great American Ball Park on September 1, 2020 in Cincinnati, Ohio. The Cardinals defeated the Reds 16-2. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images) /

2. Archie Bradley

It is perfectly fair to be upset that the Yankees didn’t trade for Archie Bradley.

Bradley was another bullpen move that, seemingly, would’ve been even easier for the Yankees to pull off without the dirty details of dealing in-division.

The Arizona Diamondbacks have been willing participants in the trade market the past few years, trying to foist Robbie Ray onto the Yanks on multiple occasions, and even dangling Starling Marte this time around, who’d look awfully nice in pinstripes.

We hear what Cashman is saying, but it still boggles the mind that there wasn’t a match here for Bradley when all he cost was utility outfielder Josh VanMeter (.237 in 2019, .059 at the big league level in 2020) and fringe prospect and 2017 second-rounder Stuart Fairchild.

The Yankees are at least one reliever short, even according to the rosiest prognosticators, without Tommy Kahnle appearing for the remainder of the season. There’s frugality, and then there’s whatever this Cashman posturing is, wherein he seems afraid to divest of even the smallest amount of talent to make a likely upgrade.

It’s not even worth crafting potential packages — the Yankees could’ve built 30 different offers to top this one. Either the playing field was different for them, or they really didn’t want the 28-year-old Bradley, but they likely should have.

Cameron Maybin #15 of the Chicago Cubs in action during the game against the Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park on September 2, 2020 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Joe Sargent/Getty Images) /

1. Cameron Maybin

The Yankees needed Cameron Maybin’s energy back.

This one’s just sad.

Faced with an energy deficit and a teetering locker room, the Yankees had the change to rectify one of their biggest 2019-20 offseason bad bets by bringing back Cameron Maybin’s charisma.

While Didi Gregorius is the high-dollar example of someone whose value to a team cannot be measured on the field, Maybin was the cheapie version, and when he was available again in 2020, as the team struggled through even more injuries, it felt like the Yanks should’ve pounced.

Unlike the other two targets on this list, we truly don’t even need to fairly evaluate the trade packages put forth by other teams. Maybin went to the Chicago Cubs from the Detroit Tigers (another team that’s officially chasing the Yankees now) in exchange for infielder Zack Short.

If the Yankees wanted a chemistry infusion, they could’ve swapped a create-a-player in there and gotten a deal done. There’s no debate to be had about the opportunity cost here.

The team could’ve had Maybin for a song. They chose not to, or forgot to check in, or slept through the process. It would be really nice to have this decision back.

New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone returns to the dugout in the sixth inning of game one of the MLB doubleheader against the Atlanta Braves at Truist Park on August 26, 2020 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Todd Kirkland/Getty Images)

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