Yankees Rumors: NYY competing with 3 teams for D-Backs trade?

The last thing any Yankees fan wants to hear is increased buzz about another stopgap shortstop with a significant flaw, but that’s exactly what we’ve been gifted this week.

Even better news? The shortstop is aging, he’s got a semi-prohibitive contract, and his calling card is his glove, not his bat! Oh my goodness. We’re almost keeling over with joy over here.

Though we wrote about how bad an idea it would be earlier in the offseason, apparently word never got through to the Yankees’ brass that we have less than no interest in trading for Nick Ahmed of the Arizona Diamondbacks, and if we had to engage with that team, we’d much rather it be a Ketel Marte blockbuster.

According to sources, trade interest surrounding Ahmed (or, at least, internal trade discussions during the lockout) has picked up, and the Yanks are among four teams specifically mentioned in the recent speculation.

Per NJ.com, the Yankees and D-Backs (sigh) pair well on a potential Ahmed deal, and we’re well aware there’s been interest before, most recently when Didi Gregorius announced his Tommy John surgery following the 2018 season.

The other teams that could make a good match (who we super hope don’t outbid the Yankees, oh no, please don’t)? The Chicago Cubs, Houston Astros and Philadelphia Phillies.

Yankees Rumors: Nick Ahmed trade on the table?

Whew, boy, would Ahmed be a step down for any of those other three teams, too.

Currently, the Astros believe they’re either bringing back Carlos Correa on a lucrative, super short-term deal or signing Trevor Story. Ahmed does not possess half the bat of either player. The Cubs? They consider themselves the outlandish frontrunners for Correa, even in a post-Boras world. What does it say to their fans if they wind up with Ahmed instead?

And the Phillies? Dave Dombrowski talked a big game about replacing Didi Gregorius, and Ahmed certainly wouldn’t be an astounding upgrade (though Gregorius was one of the league’s worst players in 2021).

Ahmed, a Massachusetts native, wraps up a four-year, $32.5 million deal after 2023, leaving $8.125 million against the luxury tax for 2022, followed by $10.375 million in ’23. In 2021, he posted a 67 OPS+, roughly equivalent to Andrelton Simmons’ mark. Though he was a Gold Glove winner in both 2018 and 2019, hitting 16 and 19 homers respectively, he also failed to pass the league-average 100 OPS+ threshold, clocking in at 83 and 93.

In his prime.

Pros: He’s the smallest bit Jeterian in the field, when everything’s working properly.

Cons: The whole … rest of it.

Ahmed likely has some glove wizardry left in the tank, but please, Yankees, don’t enter the spending spree trying to outbid Philadelphia or Chicago for Ahmed’s services.

Let some other fan base be disappointed by the contents of their offseason treasure trove here.

3 surprise trades Yankees can make when MLB Lockout ends

The New York Yankees can pull off these three surprise trades when the MLB Lockout ends and they can legally fill their gaps again.