Deivi Garcia and Luis Gil prove why Yankees should’ve traded more prospects

The New York Yankees won’t sell low. But they also refuse sell high. So what’s the point? Selling medium every time? If you’re not going to give up on players who aren’t working out or cash in on those who wildly exceeded expectations, then what are we doing?

It’s objectively harsh, but prospects are nobodies until they reach the bigs. This isn’t the NFL or NBA where guys are ready to take the field/court right away and start making an impact. Baseball players take years of development typically, and the success rate isn’t exactly high.

Knowing this as a surface-level baseball take, why do the Yankees so often fail to take advantage? In this case, why do they feel the need to hold on to almost every prospect they’re either enamored with or believe has upside? Only so many of these young and inexperienced players will be MLB fixtures. Just look at the Yankees’ roster right now, which is FULL of big-leaguers, and how many problems it has!

And that’s exactly our point. The Yankees possessed a deep enough farm system heading into last offseason to make a splash or two for the necessary major league talent that would’ve gone a long way in putting this team over the edge. Instead, nothing.

And now? More regressions! Let’s start with Deivi Garcia, whose promising 2020 led us to believe big things were on the way in 2021. Instead, spent the year in Triple-A and was terrible (6.85 ERA, 1.88 WHIP in 24 games), which fully tanked his trade value. If the Yankees weren’t going to put him on the Opening Day roster and carry him for the year, then why even keep him?

There was an opportunity to sell while they were acquiring more pitching (Jameson Taillon, Corey Kluber, etc.). But Garcia continues to regress and one could say has … no value at all?

The Yankees not trading more of their prospects was a big, big mistake

Garcia is off to another really bad start in 2022 after a promising five innings in spring training. But if he’s performing like this against lesser competition regardless of his brief MLB track record or preseason showings, the Yankees aren’t going to rely on him for meaningful innings and no team is going to want to trade for him.

Unfortunately, Garcia is a bit of old news though because fans already witnessed this for the duration of last year. There’s a newcomer to the Regression Corner and it’s Luis Gil, who made his MLB debut last year in historical fashion. He also can’t handle Triple-A, it seems.

Gil was a legitimate trade chip this offseason after logging six starts in the second half of the year. He went 1-1 with a 3.07 ERA, 1.33 WHIP, 4.40 FIP and 38 strikeouts in 29.1 innings of work. Though he had some control issues, his arsenal was major league ready and had proven success against professional lineups (he blanked the Orioles, Mariners and Red Sox in his first three starts ever).

But we didn’t hear his name floated in trade talks this offseason for a second. Then he doesn’t make the Opening Day roster despite the Yankees’ need for pitching … and now his struggles will be laughed off the negotiating table should Cashman dare shop him before he begins to turn it around.

It’s understandable the Yankees opted to keep some of their most coveted names, like Anthony Volpe and Jasson Dominguez, but it’s far more paramount to supplement the major league roster with any and all upgrades possible rather than hang on to countless unprovens who may or may not even reach the most pedestrian projections/expectations.

The steep fall for Garcia and the early 2022 returns on Gil just further echo that sentiment.

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