Yankees: 4 trade options to replace consistently injured players

While the Yankees have thankfully brought in new conditioning staff who have modified exercise regimens, there is still a good chance that stints on the IL will likely continue for often-injured Bomber players, negatively affecting the team’s overall performance.

If you take a trip through my mind right now, you will see images of outstanding Yankee players who recently have spent significant amounts of time on and off the IL.

You also will discover my disappointment that such injuries have consistently taken place, especially over the last two years.

Frequent and sometimes lengthy stints on the IL by critical players have prevented the club from reaching and winning the World Series.

This is probably why the Yankee brass smartly decided not to re-sign James Paxton (who is now back with the Seattle Mariners).

Four elite players loom large in this regard. Giancarlo Stanton, who is likely to spend most of his time as a DH this coming season, spent a total of 202 days injured and unable to play in 2019 and 2020. He will receive a cool $29 million from the Yanks in 2021, and he is due millions more in the coming years.

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Gary Sanchez was parked on the IL for 40 days at different junctures during the 2019 season and spent considerable time on the bench with a groin injury in the shortened 2020 season. Unfortunately, when he was in the lineup, he performed poorly. Despite Sanchez’s frequent health issues and disappointing performance, the Bombers took a risk and tendered the Kraken a $6.35 million contract for this coming season.

Aaron Hicks‘ career has been marred by frequent stints on the IL due to a wide variety of non-surgery baseball injuries (e.g., back pain, shoulder bursitis, hamstring strain, right oblique strain, etc.). In late Oct. 2019, he successfully underwent Tommy John surgery, but the effects lingered a bit longer.

The Yanks signed Hicks to a seven-year contract extension worth $70 million, including a club option for an eighth year, in Feb. 2019. If his past health record is any indication, one can expect him to continue to spend significant amounts of time on the IL while a Yankee.

Finally, Aaron Judge, who will be paid $10,785,714 this coming season, was out for two months with an oblique strain in 2019. He then missed time during Spring Training with a stress fracture in his ribs, and lost another two 10-day periods with a right calf strain during the abbreviated 2020 season.

No doubt the Bombers will soon have to reach even deeper into their wallet and offer Judge a long-term, fully-loaded contract if they want to retain him. This will be a challenging decision for the club given the star’s frequent visits to the IL and his ability to be one of the best players in MLB IF he can remain healthy.

These four premier players have been injured regularly over time, and it is a good bet that this situation is likely to continue in the future. They also get paid lots of money by the Yanks. It is time for the Bombers to seriously consider trading them for excellent players who are much less injury-prone and will help the team win another World Series.

Here are my trade options to replace these four consistently injured players.

In addition to playing poorly in the field and frequently striking out, Sanchez has battled several injuries during his time with the Bombers. His value on the open market has likely declined over the last year as a result. The Yankee brass should seek to trade him for another catcher (or position player), thereby providing Sanchez new surroundings and a fresh start.

Cashman should try to trade him for either Salvador Perez (Kansas City Royals) or Willson Contreras (Chicago Cubs), with Perez as a first choice. Both teams have been attempting to rebuild and improve their clubs, and they may be willing to consider trading for Sanchez.

The Cubs have a young catching prospect, Miguel Amaya, waiting in the wings. He has great potential and might make a trade with the Cubs for Contreras easier to pull off.

Contreras is scheduled to make $6.65 million in the upcoming season, so he won’t cost the Yanks an arm and a leg. Acquiring Perez, however, will be a bit pricey. He is due $14.2 million in 2021. Perez has become a terrific catcher, and he is worth the higher salary.

NEW YORK, NEW YORK – AUGUST 02: Aaron Judge #99, Aaron Hicks #31 and Brett Gardner #11 of the New York Yankees celebrate their 9-7 victory over Boston Red Sox of the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium on August 02, 2020 in New York City. (Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images)

There is a major opportunity to trade both Aaron Hicks and Aaron Judge in a blockbuster, multi-team package deal. The other teams involved would be the San Francisco Giants and the Los Angeles Dodgers.

In this scenario, the Bombers would trade Hicks for Giants right fielder Mike Yastrzemski. Besides his impressive pedigree (his grandfather is Boston Red Sox Hall of Famer Carl Yastrzemski), he had a breakout year in 2019. He became the first Giants rookie to hit at least 20 home runs in a season since Dave Kingman hit 29 home runs in 1972, his rookie year. Yaz also bats from the left side, a significant benefit for the Bombers.

Furthermore, he had a solid slash line in 2020 (.297/.400/.568) with 10 home runs and an OPS of .968, and he is a terrific fielder. A late bloomer, 2021 will be his age-31 season. He is in the prime of his career and should improve his stats even more in the near-term future. His salary will only be $575,000 in 2021.

Simultaneously, the Yanks should trade Judge for Cody Bellinger, the outstanding center fielder for the Dodgers. He was Rookie of the Year in 2017. Bellinger had a spectacular 2019 season. He was selected MVP of the National League, received a Gold Glove and a Silver Slugger Award, and played on the All-Star team.

Like Yastrzemski, Bellinger bats from the left side and will help diversify the current Yankee right-handed heavy lineup.

Bellinger is scheduled to earn $16.1 million in 2021. Given the Dodgers’ crazy high budget following free agency and recent signings during this offseason, the team may be seeking financial relief and could open to trading him if they can get someone of equal value in return. When it comes time to determine which Dodgers get extended (Corey Seager, Walker Buehler and Bellinger), it seems that slugger is the least-likely to earn a long-term pact.

These two trades will result in the Yanks jettisoning two often injured players for two players who manager Aaron Boone can count on day-in and day-out to show up and play exceptionally well. Of course, these scenarios primarily include the core players, and other players from both teams may have to be added to the negotiation mix. If these trades are made, Manager Boone will sleep well at night, knowing that he now has reliable players in both center (Bellinger) and right (Yastrzemski) fields.