3 Yankees prospects who should not be traded and 2 who should

Offensive help is certainly on the way for the New York Yankees from within. Will that help translate into big-league production, or regress when they graduate from the minors? Who's to say?! Let's maybe ... hire people who can make sure that doesn't keep happening! I don't know, could be fun!

Either way, the Yankees have a number of high-profile talents in their system who certainly seem like potential blockbuster additions to the roster down the road. They're also going to have to sell a few of them off, either this summer or next offseason, in order to maximize the team's title-winning window around Aaron Judge and Gerrit Cole.

Based on the 2023 season to date, the team has a ways to go, and shouldn't sacrifice any of their future stars to make a patchwork midseason upgrade. The reality of the situation is that Brian Cashman entered '23 with an incomplete roster and hoped to solve several problems at an impossibly low cost on the fly. He admitted as such to Chris Kirschner this week; once Carlos Rodón was in the fold, the team didn't want to spend more money on an outfielder. "Something bigger," indeed.

When the offseason begins, the Yankees will have a lot more financial flexibility and maneuvering opportunities. For now, facing a market featuring very few sellers (the White Sox, the Cardinals, and ...?), the team must be especially careful about which prospects they dangle and which targets to go all in on. Bottom line? 2023's trade deadline cannot be like 2022's edition. Frankie Montas cannot be the prize. The upper minors cannot be gutted again with no resulting benefit. It just can't happen.

You'll notice Oswald Peraza does not have a slot on this list. The reasoning there is twofold:

1. He should be able to contribute in the Bronx right now. If not now, he should slide into Josh Donaldson's role, even if Gleyber Torres isn't traded.

2. His value has been diminished by riding the rails this season and falling behind Anthony Volpe, ostensibly, on the depth chart. If you wouldn't trade him last season, why trade him now? His future may ultimately be elsewhere but, if so, that's a front office failing we can't endorse.

3 Yankees prospects who should be kept, and 2 who should be traded

Yankees Prospects Who Should Not Be Traded: Jasson Dominguez

Jasson Dominguez is the Yankees' No. 1 prospect for a reason. His tools are unmatched. His raw power is incredible. His keen eye sustained him through early struggles this season. He could be a powerful, patient superstar. If he wasn't desired by the Pirates in a Bryan Reynolds trade package this winter (they wanted pitching, he got extended), then he shouldn't be dealt at all. Just because you have a top prospect doesn't mean he needs to go away in case he busts.

If the anonymous scouts Randy Miller likes to chat with dictated the Yankees' plans, they would've traded Dominguez during his full-season debut. Luckily, the front office seems to be a bit more rational.

Dominguez's spring training showcase this year proved he has big-league tools. His .207 average, 10 bombs, 37 RBI, 16 steals, and .353 OBP during the regular season at Double-A confirmed that, while there's still a ways to go, the talent breaks through. Selling him for anything less than a perfect fit would be a random shame.

Yankees Prospects Who Should Not Be Traded: Spencer Jones

While Dominguez probably has the flashiest tools of any Yankees prospect, Jones is a close second (and, honestly, opinions might be split here). This argument is simple. Even if he's not the right fielder/center fielder of the future ... even if he's not the superstar the Yankees seem to have stumbled upon ... even if he isn't Aaron Judge 2.0 ... he could be all of those things. He's shown enough spark not to be traded in Year 2. Outside of the sudden emergence of Nolan Arenado on the market, this shouldn't even be flirted with.

Sure, no prospect is untouchable. But for the Yankees in their current state, approaching this trade market, there's no reason to let someone reap the rewards of the impressive developmental work they've already done on unlocking Jones, a project they're uniquely tailored to finish off with Judge already in the organization.

Saying "Spencer Jones is Judge" sounds insane, just because they're both 6'7". But Spencer Jones can fairly obviously learn from both Judge, one of very few major leaguers in history who looks like him, as well as a Yankees instructional staff that graduated, tweaked, and improved upon Judge. Trading a 22-year-old hitting .284 with an .861 OPS at High-A and remarkable athleticism seems foolish, strikeout problem notwithstanding. There's no one on the market worth including Jones as a throw-in for.

Yankees Prospects Who Should Be Traded: Yoendrys Gómez

The Yankees love to trade pitching prospects who've crested in the development process, famously clearing out what felt like the whole Triple-A rotation just last summer, leaving Matt Krook to move to the bullpen and fend for himself.

This year, the team's young pitchers have backfilled those holes just as the front office anticipated. Richard Fitts, Drew Thorpe, Will Warren, Clayton Beeter and Chase Hampton (don't trade him, please!) have all emerged to hold down the fort. Yoendrys Gómez, who's been here a while, always floated around the "Top 10 prospect" level, and has yet to make a real dent in the team's plans, is probably no longer in that internal upper tier.

Always laid up with something. Gómez (MLB Pipeline's No. 9 Yankees prospect, at the moment) returned to make several short (and effective) starts at High-A last season. Knocked out by a shoulder issue to begin 2023, he's made four equally short outings at Double-A Somerset, striking out 10 in 10.2 innings pitched while sporting a 1.13 WHIP.

There's clearly something there. Mostly every analyst can agree on that. But how often will it appear? With so much strength in this pitching-rich farm, the Yankees can afford to use Gómez as a second-tier piece in any package. Even if he eventually hits his ceiling, they likely won't regret it.

Yankees Prospects Who Should Be Traded: Trey Sweeney

There's no problem with drafting (and signing) talent you believe in, regardless of the position said talent is currently playing. Sure, you might end up overloading your system with shortstops, but ... high school shortstops with athleticism sometimes turn into center fielders. Sometimes they grow into third baseman. Sometimes they don't do much of anything at all.

That said, the Yankees have had a particular fondness for shortstops lately, from Volpe and Peraza to Trey Sweeney and Roderick Arias. In the upcoming MLB draft, it seems quite possible they'll select Sammy Stafura, a local boy/Clemson commit who also plays the position.

There are still tons of mouths to feed; Volpe and Peraza (and Gleyber Torres!) might just be enough to hold down the middle infield at the big-league level for seasons to come, especially if the team is able to add a corner infield star to replace Josh Donaldson. The 23-year-old Sweeney ranks right now as the perfect blend of all the ingredients that could eventually lead to a trade.

Crowded house? You bet. Still desirable and projectable? Absolutely; losing his lefty bat will hurt the Yankees. You have to give to get. Peaking? Not quite, though his power has ticked up at Double-A Somerset lately and his .363 OBP and .773 OPS are nothing to sneeze at. The Yankees loved his advanced college bat (small-school) in 2021, and he's shown no real reason for them to doubt him yet, even if he hasn't excelled at any level.

Some team's going to try to make things painful for the Yankees at this year's deadline, especially with an unbalanced set of buyers. Sweeney should be the first name New York tries to clear from their logjam, and if the Yankees' trade partners find him to be an unacceptable headliner, that's the time when the conversations could get uncomfortable. Good player. Potential standout. Doesn't seem likely to displace the incumbents or the names at Triple-A. Probably time to maximize the asset.