3 players the New York Yankees should keep and 3 they should trade

With three weeks to go before spring training, Yankees GM Brian Cashman is still working the phones.

Now, he might be calling to see if a few relievers would be willing to pay the Yankees for the privilege of putting on the pinstripes rather than take money from the payroll, but those are still technically phone calls!

Cashman is reportedly willing to explore maneuvers that would benefit the Yankees (mostly in the bullpen), but anything he does would have to fall in line with budgetary restrictions. They aren't as draconian as they've been in years past, but after losing out on Yoshinobu Yamamoto and with a Juan Soto extension potentially ahead of them, they certainly exist.

Cashman would likely love the chance to swing one last trade and add rotation/bullpen depth. After all, the 40-man roster recently had enough spare room to help the Dodgers and absorb Jorbit Vivas. Now? It's totally stuffed, resulting in the Yankees having to cut three players in recent weeks who never got a chance to suit up for the team (Oscar González, Jeter Downs, Bubba Thompson).

If the Yankees can clear their 40-man with a maneuver that makes sense, they almost certainly will. That means it's time to find some takers for a few players who might be better suited elsewhere. It's also time to hold onto a few core chips who they'll probably be tempted to move, more likely at the deadline than prior to the season (Corbin Burnes and Dylan Cease on Line 1).

3 players Yankees should trade (soon, maybe?) and 3 they should keep

Yankees Should Trade: Oswald Peraza

Oswald Peraza could be a nice fit as a slick fielding, late-inning defensive replacement shortstop/third baseman/second baseman off the bench. He also could get immediate run for the Yankees if DJ LeMahieu either trails off, fails to replicate his hot second half, or suffers an injury.

But Peraza is a top-100 prospect of recent vintage, and "depth piece/last resort" doesn't feel like the best use of that kind of player. His prospect shine/trade value have already been diminished, but the Yankees risk a critical devaluation of the asset here if they hold him any longer.

That said, if an Edward Cabrera swap/Mariners trade hasn't happened yet, it's possible the asset has already been devalued too much for Peraza to be a useful centerpiece. In that case, the Yankees might be stuck here.

Yankees Should Keep: Gleyber Torres

The Yankees are not the Brewers. The Yankees are not the Angels (and Torres is not Ohtani). There should be no regret about "letting Torres leave for nothing in free agency" if the Yankees opt to keep him for one more year as they attempt to chase a World Series. That's the Yankees' ambition, and they can't afford to reduce their firepower in what's currently Juan Soto's only season in pinstripes.

Now, if the team falls off by midseason? Torres should be the first out the door in any fire sale, and Peraza could absorb his role if he sticks around. But let's not think that way.

Yankees Should Trade: Everson Pereira

Pereira, despite a difficult month of September, has not seen his prospect shine erased as defiantly as Peraza's. The swing-and-miss is one thing, but Pereira still put up the second highest average exit velocity of any of Baseball America's Top 100 Prospects in 2023, and that's the data smart teams attach themselves to during trade talks. The Yankees had better hope the results are there quickly in 2024 so they can boost his value back up a bit with tangibles, but ... you can only commit to so many outfielders long-term. Can the fan base agree that the trio of Aaron Judge, Juan Soto, and Jasson Dominguez deserve that type of deferential treatment? What about Spencer Jones?

If the metrics are this attractive, you can't stay too attached to your fifth-in-line outfielder. Pereira makes more sense as a great chip than a future Yankee. And speaking of...

Yankees Should Keep: Spencer Jones

Jones was the only top prospect on BA's list to top Pereira's average exit velocity. His athleticism is top-tier. He's a completely unique post-college prospect -- or, at least, he would be, if Aaron Judge didn't exist. He's absolutely not the type of guy you dangle for Dylan Cease, or a half-season of any other rental du jour.

There's a chance he's unable to put his considerable tools together, sure. There's always that chance. But his odds of success increase the longer he stays in the same organization with Judge, and the Yankees should be very hesitant to deprive him of that opportunity. As he told The Athletic recently, he warned his San Diego friends that he wouldn't be going anywhere during the Soto trade talks. The Yankees had better keep it that way.