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

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.