Yankees: 3 fan favorites who could be traded by Opening Day

The Yankees could still say goodbye to some fan favorites before Opening Day.

If the New York Yankees are going to make additions to their rotation and fortifications to their roster this offseason, there’s a good chance they’ll come from the trade market.

And yes, they’ll quite likely have to give from the back end of the rotation to get more proven arms.

Things have been slow thus far, and you can be assured the Yankees will attempt, first, to conceive of trade options that keep familiar names out of the conversation. In a slow offseason unlike any other — though one in which they’re still subjected to the “Yankees Tax” of an automatic higher cost — the team will have to be extremely creative to do so.

Yes, as per usual, MLB teams will ask for the moon from the Yanks for marginal upgrades. And, at a certain point, Brian Cashman will have to be more proactive than reactive to improve this roster, and will likely start really churning after DJ LeMahieu makes his DJ-cision.

These three fan favorites should be a part of the future for 2021 and beyond, but will all find themselves included in trade conversations, to varying degrees, over the next two months.

3. Deivi Garcia

Deivi Garcia is probably the Yankees pitcher most likely to be traded.

If you watched Deivi Garcia’s 2020 season and experienced the poise he brought to the mound — repeatedly in key games against the Toronto/Buffalo Blue Jays — you walked away very impressed with the way he was able to command a fringe fastball.

The surface numbers don’t tell the same story, though; Garcia’s 4.98 ERA, tainted by a tough outing at Fenway Park in Boston, won’t blow anyone away. The Yankees are now counting on his production in 2021 instead of accepting it as a nice bonus, though, which is an issue for the team’s rotation depth.

Garcia and Clarke Schmidt remain the Yankees’ top two pitching prospects, but the team might be too confident in both men delivering 150+ effective innings in 2021, and should likely dip into the trade market in an attempt to insure against either man’s semi-inevitable backslide (and obvious innings ceiling).

Therein lies the problem, though. Any trade for a pitcher above Joe Musgrove’s level will include Garcia, and he’s a surety to be included in any blockbuster trade — say, for Francisco Lindor.

Watch this space in the coming weeks. The Yankees’ goal should be to add a No. 2 or No. 3 starter without sacrificing Garcia, keeping him as needed depth. But teams are going to come to the bargaining table asking for the moon, plus a future moon.

2. Clarke Schmidt

The Yankees might be more willing to part with Clarke Schmidt than Garcia.

Clarke Schmidt was supposed to be the Yanks’ breakout arm of 2020 when he was in the throes of Spring Training.

But when he actually arrived, he was relied upon as a relief ace with traffic on the bases (Hint: It didn’t work.) and carried the final start of the ’20 season once the team had only positioning to play for — and his ugly loss could’ve sent the Yankees to the Wild Card Series with Tampa Bay instead of Cleveland. Yikes!

There’s at least a solid chance Schmidt looks entirely different and more confident when he arrives for the 2021 season, throwing it back to the confidence he displayed in the spring and early summer before the Alternate Site became a part of his vocabulary.

But the Yankees can’t plan for him to be anything but a depth piece, and it once again may be time to pay the piper for a significant rotation upgrade if Schmidt’s name comes to the forefront of trade discussions.

Some Yankees may only be available in upper-echelon, Luis Castillo-level trade talks. But Schmidt will probably hear his name called for trade targets who are a notch below that, and fans might have to prepare themselves for one of their prospect crushes to be un-hugged.