4 Reds players Yankees should target via trade during sad fire sale

The New York Yankees let the first opportunity to poach talent off the Cincinnati Reds this offseason pass them by when they allowed Jesse Winker and Eugenio Suarez to tiptoe to the Seattle Mariners for a very minimal return.

Though the Yankees could’ve absolutely used Winker’s bat despite his struggles against lefties, there’s still ample opportunity for New York’s braintrust to add talent due to Cincinnati’s rededication to scraping the bottom of the barrel. Who knew letting Nicholas Castellanos walk was the first step towards Reds ownership choosing financial ruin over competing?

As long as the Yanks hurry up, they can take advantage of the Reds’ downfall in myriad ways, from taking on dollars attached to sinking assets (like they did with, uh, Josh Donaldson) to poaching young up-and-comers who are simply … available now.

What the Reds appear to be intent on doing is horrible for the game of baseball, especially after the new CBA was signed, but … somebody’s going to profit off of it. Why not the Yankees?

No, seriously. Why not? Critics are going to mock New York whether they feast or not, so why not reinforce the roster in clear areas of need?

Even if the Yankees shoot for the moon and only land among the stars, there are right-handed starters and center field options waiting in Cincinnati who will cost $Free.95 if we’re judging based on Winker and Suarez.

And, oh yeah, there are also a few of those stars we’ve heard so much about.

4 Cincinnati Reds players the Yankees should trade for

4. Tyler Mahle

Tyler Mahle is the No. 1 target who’s both attainable and attractive. There will absolutely be sharks in these waters.

A 27-year-old who’ll be a free agent after the 2023 season, Mahle was reportedly on the Mets’ radar recently, though who knows if that still stands after the team acquired Chris Bassitt for top-five prospect JT Ginn and a throw-in.

Mahle broke out somewhat silently (at least, comparatively) in 2021, leading the National League in starts with 33, as well as whiffing an impressive 210 men in 180 clean innings (3.75 ERA/3.80 FIP).

With Mahle, what you see appears to be what you get, and if it’s durability the Yankees are after, he appears to be as safe a bet as any (with all the usual caveats, pitchers break, etc) with the market beginning to form.

With Sonny Gray already exiled to Minnesota, we don’t even need to assess whether or not the Yankees should be interested in that dance yet again. Mahle doesn’t come with any similar strings attached, and with red percentiles in all the Statcast hard-hit metrics, he’s liable to remain steady — or even tick up a spot or two — after a guru like Matt Blake gets his hands on him. The competition for Mahle will be fierce (two top-10 prospects and more?), but if the Yankees are serious about adding innings, they’ll dip into the mix here.

2. Luis Castillo

Regardless of how cash-poor ownership has now decided to behave, the player cost in a Luis Castillo trade will certainly still be high.

After a difficult start to 2021 (by his or anyone’s standards), Castillo rebounded to post something approaching his traditional numbers, finishing the season with 192 strikeouts in 187.2 innings alongside a 3.98 ERA and 4.8 WAR, totals that felt impossible out of the gate.

The 6-2 right-hander — who I’ve been wanting to call “diminutive” forever, but is actually tall and just gives off small vibes — has been relatively durable, too, and comes with two years of control. Assuming All-Star status in a player’s prime is always a fool’s game, but Castillo, with the Yankees offense behind him, would likely be a fairly safe bet at the ages of 29 and 30.

The one problem here? Everybody wants him, and he’s not just getting pried loose thanks to the Reds’ newfound chintzy attitude. He was theoretically on the block before the teardown began, but the team will also be more than happy to hold onto him … until this year’s deadline, next offseason, or the deadline after that.

The cost of a Castillo deal remains unchanged (certainly won’t be any cheaper due to the Reds’ malfeasance), and the Yankees will likely have to outbid NL Wast stalwarts like the Dodgers and Padres here. But there’s no reason not to ask — even though it seemed like there might be last spring.

1. Joey Votto

If the Yankees were willing to lift the Josh Donaldson burden off the Minnesota Twins, then why wouldn’t they similarly want to bring the still-productive Joey Votto to New York (at a hefty cost) for a few seasons?

Now, if you liked Donaldson arriving in the Bronx at 36 years old, you’re gonna love Votto arriving at the age of 38, set for the final two years on his expensive contract (earning a $25 million base salary for each of those seasons).

Like Donaldson, though, Votto was tremendous in 2021, rebounding to post a 136 OPS+, 36 bombs, 99 RBI and 3.5 WAR. Oft-maligned by veteran Reds broadcasters for both walking too much and sacrificing his power to get on base (???), Votto found whatever he’d lost in his swing last season, tripling his hated-upon power output from 2018 of 12 bombs.

What would it take to acquire Votto right now? Here’s one side of the coin that has changed drastically from just a few days ago. If Cincinnati is spendthrift now, why on earth would they require anything of value here? If the Yankees need a stopgap at first — which, for some reason, they do after passing on Matt Olson — the Reds should accept any two ranked prospects in exchange for Votto, as long as New York fits the bill.

How far are they willing to blow past the tax? And, if the answer is “no further than they did in the Donaldson deal” … why?

3 terrible center field options Yankees must avoid this offseason

Yes, the New York Yankees need new blood in center field, but why on earth would that include any of these men proposed by SNY?