Yankees: 3 Rockies NYY should plunder after Nolan Arenado trade

2. Daniel Bard

The Yankees deploying ex-Red Sox weapon Daniel Bard would be fun as hell.

This is just a speculative list, right? One in which we can shoot for the stars if we want to?

After Arenado’s departure, though, ask yourself which option is really more likely here. Will the Rockies keep feel-good story Daniel Bard, a 35-year-old reliever providing genuine value for the first time in a decade? Or will they attempt to maximize his two years of control by using him as another asset?

The Rox settled with Bard ahead of the arbitration process for a shade under $3 million ($2.925 mil, in fact), so he fits firmly in the Yankees’ budget, about half the cost of a power arm like Trevor Rosenthal.

Can Bard be fully trusted? Well, of course not. He returned from the absolute bottom after trying to tame an arm gone wild at the minor-league level for nearly a decade, and has only performed in the empty-ballpark season. But as the fifth option in the Yankees’ ‘pen? Yes. Yes, we can do that.

There’s nary a more electric arm who might be on the market, and a “Bard for two back-end 40-man roster guys” trade makes a lot of sense; Alexander Vizcaino, Yoendrys Gomez and Luis Medina are all still hanging out there, as is Ben Heller.

Yes, there’s risk here. And yes, the Rockies will probably want to wait until the league’s needs calcify at the trade deadline. But we haven’t seen Bard’s name mentioned much, and we’re sure the Rockies will forget the redemption narrative soon and get to wheeling and dealing.