Former Yankees fan favorite announces retirement in reminder of awful Cashman trade

It feels particularly often nowadays that Yankees fans are reminded of a previous organizational misstep after simple transactional announcements. Recently, it was Lou Trivino signing with the Orioles, serving as an unpleasant flashback to the Frankie Montas trade.

On Monday, it was the retirement of former fan favorite Gio Urshela. Fans will never forget his dominant 2019 and 2020 seasons. Ushela's 2019 surge was responsible for displacing Miguel Andújar, but his bat-to-ball skills, tremendous defense, and pleasant personality didn't have anybody looking back.

During the 2020 Wild Card Series against the Cleveland Indians, Urshela clocked a grand slam off James Karinchak to give the Yankees a 4-1 lead. That wild back-and-forth affair would end in a 10-9 Yankees victory that advanced them to the ALDS.

Throughout his career in pinstripes, Urshela hit .292 with an .815 OPS. He logged 6.4 WAR across this 291 games. His play suffered a bit during the cursed 2021 season as he missed some time with injuries, and then he was gone as quickly as he arrived.

That offseason, Brian Cashman shipped Urshela to Minnesota in the historically bad Josh Donaldson trade that paved the way for the Twins to sign Carlos Correa. It also began the Isiah Kiner-Falefa era in the Bronx, which is not remembered fondly.

Gio Urshela announcing retirement elicits mixed feelings from Yankees fans

Cashman's famous last words were "Gio Urshela's no Josh Donaldson", after which Donaldson appeared in a total of 165 games over the next two seasons and cost the Yankees $50+ million. He's one of the most disliked Yankees of the modern era.

Had the Yankees simply kept Urshela and signed a big-name shortstop, we have no idea how things would've been different for the Bombers. But we can almost guarantee that it would've been better.

Urshela logged a productive season with the Twins in 2022, but then fell off a cliff from 2023-2025. A hip injury derailed his 2023 campaign with the Angels. Then he bounced around to the Tigers, Braves and Athletics from 2024-2025. He appeared in the 2026 World Baseball Classic with Colombia, but they didn't make it out of pool play.

He was unable to land a contract with a big league team after that (the Twins signed him to a minor-league deal and then released him on March 20), and remained a free agent until his announcement on Monday.

Urshela remains one of the more affable Yankees in the modern era and New York fans will remember him fondly, even though he was linked to the Donaldson trade that played a role in derailing the team for a couple years. At the very least, Urshela represented a big Cashman win when the third baseman was plucked from the Blue Jays for nothing before the 2019 season. So we guess we'll end on that high note.

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