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.

Trading Giancarlo Stanton

Admittedly, it will be challenging to trade Stanton because of his recent injuries and exorbitant salary. His prowess as an outfielder is limited, and he was mainly used as a DH in 2020. In all likelihood, he will be occupying the DH slot in the batting order for the Yanks in years to come if he remains with the club, playing outfield in rare spot situations.

Of course, if the National League adopts the universal DH, the marketplace will expand considerably, and it will be a lot easier to offload Stanton.

If I were GM Brian Cashman, I would try to trade him to the Texas Rangers for Joey Gallo. Cashman will likely have to agree to cover a portion of Stanton’s salary if he wants to swing this deal. Still, getting rid of a significant amount of that restriction would make such an arrangement worth it.

Gallo can play both center field and right field (he won a Gold Glove in 2020) and has been used as a DH on occasion — and he certainly has some pop. In 2017 and 2018, Gallo hit 41 and 40 home runs and drove in 80 and 92 RBI, respectively. He was an All-Star in 2019 and experienced a mixed year in the shortened 2020 season. He bats left (a significant plus for the Yanks, given their heavy right-handed hitting lineup), is entering his age-27 year in 2021, and will only cost $6.2 million in salary.

Or, Cashman could try to trade Stanton for Franmil Reyes of the Cleveland Indians. A right-handed hitter and DH, Reyes had a slash line of .275/.344/.450 in 2020. He hit nine home runs, drove in 34 RBI, and had a .795 OPS in the shortened season. Reyes will be entering his age-26 year in 2021, earning $575,000 for the season. He won’t be a free agent until 2025. He has a lot of upside and a bright future as a DH.

Another potential trade target is Jesse Winker of the Cincinnati Reds. Like Gallo, he bats left-handed and can play the outfield when needed. He will be entering his age-28 season in 2021 and is a good batter and fielder. In 2019, he pounded out 16 home runs and had 38 RBI in 338 at-bats.

In 2020, Winker slashed .255/.388/.544 with a solid OPS of .932. He had 12 home runs and 23 RBI during the abbreviated season. Winker is due to earn $3.15 million in 2021 and is thus affordable. Winker won’t be a free agent until 2024, too. Perhaps he can be included as part of a package deal for pitcher Luis Castillo, with the Yanks adding another player and prospects along with Stanton for the two players from the Reds.

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.