Marlins’ reported Pablo Lopez demands show how Yankees’ trade deadline fell apart

When the New York Yankees traded Jordan Montgomery at the deadline buzzer and acquired nobody after, fans were thinking “OK, something must’ve gotten derailed” shortly before they burst into furious flames.

As everyone learned not too long after that, the Yankees were reportedly in talks with the Miami Marlins about acquiring starter Pablo Lopez. There was also some buzz suggesting Aaron Hicks was involved in that deal, with New York possibly shedding most of his salary.

In the end, nothing got done, and it was as clear as day the Marlins pulled whatever deal that was slowly coming to fruition off the table. Looking around the league and at the rumors that continued to pop up, the Marlins were simply asking for far too much in exchange for Lopez.

Just ask the Dodgers, who were reportedly propositioned with an insane Lopez-for-Gavin Lux-and-three-prospects offer. Yeah … not in a million years.

It seems like general manager Brian Cashman was put in a similar spot, per Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. According to the esteemed MLB insider (subscription required), Marlins GM Kim Ng asked for Gleyber Torres and Oswald Peraza for Lopez and shortstop Miguel Rojas.

Yeah … that’ll be a fat “no.”

“The Yankees’ trade of left-hander Jordan Montgomery to the Cardinals might have seemed less curious if the team had acquired a second starting pitcher in addition to righty Frankie Montas at the deadline,” Rosenthal wrote. “But in one iteration of the talks, the Marlins asked for second baseman Gleyber Torres and shortstop Oswald Peraza for Pablo López and shortstop Miguel Rojas, sources said. The Yankees thought the price too steep.”

Marlins’ asking price for Pablo Lopez trade completely screwed the Yankees

This does NOT absolve Cashman of any blame, however. He should’ve known what he was getting into before offloading an asset in Montgomery and leaving the starting rotation thin. There were limited options on the market, which should’ve had him exploring them much sooner if this was always part of the plan.

In the end, the joke is (mostly) on the Marlins, though. On top of them being downright terrible yet again, Lopez is 1-2 with a 5.06 ERA, 1.41 WHIP, 17 strikeouts and 7 walks in four August starts. Imagine the backlash that would’ve resulted from Lopez getting off to that kind of a start in the Bronx after Cashman surrendered two appreciating assets? Absolute nightmare.

Though Cashman was right to hang up the phone on Ng, he was wrong to put himself and the team in this kind of a situation in the first place. So while fans can blame the Marlins for their pure delusion here, don’t forget Cashman’s 20-plus years in the business is somehow still attracting him to such nonsensical discussions in the first place. That’s the real problem.

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