3 tough trades Yankees should make if they don't plan to contend in 2024

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The 2023 Yankees' story is mostly told. Expensive veterans all became pumpkins at the age of 33 rather than 36. Josh Donaldson was not, in fact, an upgrade over Gio Urshela. The kids are playing now, but they weren't playing early enough. The entire rotation fell apart. While his teammates ran into metaphorical walls, Aaron Judge ran into a literal one.

With Aaron Boone and Brian Cashman both increasingly likely to return in 2024, it would seem natural to forecast a whole lot of, "Well, how could we expect all that to happen?"-type discussion prior to next season. That would mean that team's story could likely be pre-written as well.

If the Yankees pivot and rededicate themselves to winning with depth, a relentless offensive approach, and fresh arms in 2024, then they could easily bounce back. The history of MLB is littered with worst-to-first teams. It's difficult to rise to the top of the AL East; it's much easier to fall off the pedestal, Baltimore Orioles. You never know!

If the same names come back to give it another go 'round, though, that'll be a fairly clear indicator the Yankees don't intend to seriously compete until 2025 or later, despite Gerrit Cole and Aaron Judge being in their clock-ticking primes. In that case, the Yankees should consider trading away these pieces who can help a winning team next season, but wouldn't do much for a losing team.

3 tough Yankees trades team must make if they don't plan to reload for 2024

3. Clay Holmes

Pending a return to contention, Clay Holmes is highly unlikely to end 2024 on the Yankees' roster. If New York already feels they've squeezed maximum value out of Holmes -- and don't get it twisted, the trade for the right-hander midway through 2021 was a great one -- they'll trade him this offseason. If they believe he'll have a hot first half, they can also keep him for a midseason trade deadline frenzy.

Holmes has sandwiched several months of excellent play this season between two rough stretches. He struggled to harness his power sinker in the early going, posting a 3.72 ERA in 9.2 innings in March/April, walking five. In June and July, though, he allowed only a single earned run in each month, reestablishing himself as an elite closer.

August? His astounding meltdown in Miami helped officially end the Yankees' troubled season, amd bloated his second-half ERA to 5.68.

Fans will always associate closers with their poor performances before recalling the myriad times they actually got the job done. Holmes' implosions have been glaring, but he remains an unhittable force with closer mettle when he's on. If the Yankees don't intend to be contenders next season, the league's elite teams will certainly value him.

2. Michael King

The Yankees are currently in the process of stretching out King to be a starting pitcher. But a starting pitcher for whom?

New York's bullpen depth chart, even if you include Holmes, looks fairly barren next season after the team managed to create a strength in the back end over the past half-decade. Jonathan Loaisiga, oft-injured, is one of the roster's few "sure things." Wandy Peralta will enter free agency, Tommy Kahnle has struggled with high-leverage appearances this summer (and is an eternal injury risk), and King seems poised to be something in between a starter and reliever.

He believes starting should be his full-time destiny, and while it's hard to argue with the stuff, Yankee fans have plenty experience with pitchers being jerked between the rotation and bullpen and getting lost along the way.

King's potential journey toward being a trade asset rather than a Yankees stalwart depends largely on how this role change goes. The Yankees will absolutely need insurance in the rotation next year, and if they end September believing King can provide it, he'll stay. If they determine that he's a reliever and only a reliever moving forward, they should probably be the ones receiving a haul for his services rather than paying a heavy prospect cost for a similar pitcher with two years of control. King's locked down through 2024 and 2025, which seems poised to be a highly uncertain period for this Yankees franchise. They should at least entertain moving him.

1. Gleyber Torres

When spring training wraps in 2024, the best answer to the question, "What are the 2024 New York Yankees?" might be another question: "Is Gleyber Torres still here?"

If he's in the lineup, that likely means the Yankees finished the 2023 season disillusioned with Oswald Peraza, and either traded him over the winter or buried him in Triple-A, further diminishing his value. If he's gone, that likely means New York ended 2023 wildly impressed with Peraza (which would be out of character, based on how they've treated him so far), or that the Yankees' braintrust vowed to take a step back in 2024.

Torres has put together an excellent second half after he finished the first half with as many brain farts as game-changing homers. His OPS has continued to creep towards .800. His power has returned. He's ... still a right-handed hitter, and will never be able to provide the type of lineup balance the Yankees have long forsaken.

Perhaps most importantly, the Yankees have an absolute glut of names hanging behind him in the minors, from George Lombard Jr. to Trey Sweeney to Roderick Arias to Roc Riggio. Not all of these players will pan out. Most won't. But if Torres receives a $100 million deal, that'll render most of them largely irrelevant.

Either Torres should be traded, or the infield prospect glut should be cleared out with win-now moves. The Yankees will need to decide which direction is more important.

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