Yankees: Predicting who’s gone in MLB trade deadline sell-off

Yankees Trade Possibilities: Increasing…

Due to poor performance and the need to improve the lineup’s diversity and add contact hitters, several players are on the chopping block. These include Miguel Andújar, Gleyber Torres, Clint Frazier, and even Brett Gardner.

This will likely be Gardner’s last year, at least as a Yankee. Fans like Gardner a lot, and trading him at this late stage in his career might be difficult from a PR standpoint. It might be easier to trade him if the team he is traded to is likely to reach the playoffs this year. He could be a valuable outfield addition for one of the clubs at the top of their division, but his future here is nil.

Clearly, Andújar and Frazier have struggled in the outfield and in the box. While both have had a few good moments, they are still experiencing difficulties with their fielding and inconsistent hitting. These two players are still young, and perhaps a change of scenery would be good for them and help another club enhance its lineup.

Perhaps the biggest disappointment this year has been Torres’ power outage and his shoddy fielding at shortstop. His lack of home run and RBI production is one of the main reasons why the Yanks are still struggling at this point in the season. This is a very disappointing turnaround, especially given how well he hit for power and average during his first two years as a major leaguer.

Like Sánchez, the Bombers should trade Torres now while he still has value — or perhaps during the offseason, while contenders try to sign new, high-dollar shortstops. Also like Sánchez, he could easily be at the core of a Yankee package in a trade for an elite player to fill a critical opening on the team (e.g., center field, catcher, starting pitcher, and shortstop). Like Andújar and Frazier, Torres, too, might benefit from a change of scenery and playing in a less stressful environment.

At the same time, several elite shortstops will be free agents during the upcoming offseason, and the Yanks could choose to pursue one of them for the right price.