Brian Cashman’s explanation of Jordan Montgomery trade doesn’t help Yankees fans

You don’t say … an explanation from the New York Yankees that tells the fans nothing, inspires no confidence, and leaves them more confused than when they first raised an eyebrow? Can’t say that’s a surprise, especially when we don’t even think the Yankees knew what they were doing when they traded starting pitcher Jordan Montgomery for injured outfielder Harrison Bader.

This front office is famous for communicating poorly, sending mixed messages, throwing their own players under the bus, and not being straightforward. That’s where so much of the frustration in the fan base has originated since 2010.

Thankfully, outside of the nonsensical Aaron Judge presser an hour before Opening Day, there’s been hardly any reason to complain about Cashman and the front office in 2022 (with the exception of Domingo Germán still being here).

That is, until Tuesday, when the Yankees seemingly dumped a heaping scoop of warm dog crap on top of the near-flawless trade deadline sundae they concocted from last week up until 5:30 p.m. ET.

Trading Montgomery and weakening the starting rotation depth when Luis Severino is out until mid-September and Germán and Jameson Taillon are pretty much glorified long relievers at this point made no sense. Germán is bad and Taillon has been a pressure-cooker for two months now.

Yankees GM Brian Cashman offered nothing on the Jordan Montgomery trade

“St. Louis obviously needs starting pitching and Harrison Bader is one of the elite center fielders in the game, so he provides a lot of lanes for us, I think for our manager, when he’s healthy … he’s a 60-70 defender, 60-70 runner that can impact our team in many ways, at the discretion of our manager … he’s a really talented kid. It’s hard to get your hands on somebody of that caliber, and it takes something to get something, and unfortunately it cost us one of our homegrown players in Jordan Montgomery, who we’ve relied a lot on too. Sorry to see Montgomery go. He’s obviously a really good pitcher, a really good pitcher. He’s one of our own, so it makes it that much more difficult. But that’s the tough world that I live in and the tough world that this business operates in.”

He then went on to say that he believes in the remainder of the starting pitchers that the Yankees have, which is downright crazy given all the rotation issues that have held this team back for the past 13 years. There was finally admirable depth and some sort of blueprint in place for the postseason.

Now, it just seems Cashman was making the Monty deal as a precursor to one final blockbuster that was yanked off the table at the last second. If that was the case — it sure sounded like it, based on Cash’s opening line to the presser! — why are we trading important roster pieces at the deadline buzzer if there’s no guaranteed solution already locked in?

The Yankees don’t need elite outfield defense. They now have six outfielders, which is excessive and unnecessary. They needed bullpen help and arguably another starter on top of Montgomery to help this roster get through the next two months and remain healthy into October.

Instead, the pitching depth has taken a hit of friendly fire, and the Yankees will roll with Germán every fifth day while Clarke Schmidt hangs out in Scranton. Cashman either went for it all and botched it, or tried to get cute in a detrimental way. If the Yankees don’t pay for this move, fans will be shocked, because now we’ll be holding onto our seats until Severino (who’s angry at the team, by the way!) returns in six weeks.

Yankees shock with Jordan Montgomery-Cardinals deal at MLB trade deadline

The New York Yankees have traded Jordan Montgomery to the St. Louis Cardinals in exchange for Harrison Bader at the MLB trade deadline.