3 Yankees who should be on trade block entering spring training

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The New York Yankees enter spring training with a deeper roster than 2023, a five-man rotation that looks great on paper (a place where rotations tend to look great), and some actual lefties who can play the outfield, one of whom happens to be Juan Soto.

Still, there are a few redundant pieces who remain.

The Yankees possess an impressive array of top prospects, but in typical Yankee fashion, they're also rostering a few names who've fallen between the cracks, and need to prove their worth in some way in 2024. There's a chance they thrive with the big-league club. There's a chance they flounder, dooming themselves to the world of Quad-A. If the Yankees want to be proactive, they'll never get a chance to find out whether the second outcome is possible, pouncing on the trade market instead.

These three Yankees could play roles with the big club in 2024, but would probably be better suited to be dealt -- either prior to Opening Day, or at the trade deadline (though you risk further depleting your assets if you continue to hold them).

3 Yankees players who belong on trade block entering spring training 2024

Carlos Narvaez

The catchers! The five catchers! SOMETHING must be done about the catchers!

In what's turned from a quirk to a farce over the past three months, the Yankees still employ five catchers on their 40-man roster. Attaching Kyle Higashioka to the Juan Soto trade wasn't enough. Now, the rubber is hitting the road, and a cavalcade of catchers is about to report -- alongside their pitchers -- to spring training in Tampa. Is there enough space in the locker room for all of them? Are we about to experience an impending Catcher Turf War?

It was incumbent upon the Yankees to sort out this strange allocation of resources back in November. Now? It's critical.

Ben Rortvedt possesses more big-league familiarity, but Narvaez is the more intriguing unknown quantity (who impressed last spring with his defensive acumen). The Yankees theoretically have the catching duties handled in Scranton between Rortvedt and minor-league signee Luis Torrens. Agustin Ramirez, protected from the Rule 5 Draft in December, represents untapped potential.

Narvaez? At this point, he represents stunted growth, especially if he's forced to go back to Double-A and split duties once more. The Yankees should do what's right here and find him an exit strategy (or get someone to pounce on Rortvedt instead to clear the glut).

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Oswald Peraza

What exactly is Peraza, entering 2024? Is he a backup utility infielder at the big-league level? That doesn't feel befitting of a recent Top 100 prospect, especially after getting so few chances to define himself with regular reps. Is he a Triple-A starter? That feels wildly unnecessary, given how much time he's spent at the level. Will he be stashed on the bench in Oswaldo Cabrera's place, replacing a player better suited to embody that role and float around the diamond? Regardless, Peraza's season seems fated to represent another oddball turn in a long line of 'em.

Let's face facts. If Peraza were still being valued at a top-100 level, he would've been moved already. He might've been a Marlin in 2022, and Pablo López might've extended in New York instead of Minnesota. He might've been the centerpiece of a Corbin Burnes trade, which could've worked sans-Spencer Jones if Milwaukee believed in him as much as they believed in ex-Oriole Joey Ortiz.

The Yankees are firmly entrenched in "win now" mode and can't afford to trade Gleyber Torres, weaken the lineup, and turn the keys over to Peraza. If New York keeps the 23-year-old, he could absorb that role in 2025, or even replace Anthony Volpe at shortstop and shift the incumbent over to Torres' old position.

Will the Yankees (and Peraza) be willing to waste another year on the bench together in the process of waiting for next winter's resolution, though? Brian Cashman would be better off moving Peraza, but might've already missed his window (when have we heard that before?). The slick-fielding infielder might not be getting many bites, but he belongs comfortably on the block while the Yankees sort out this mess of their own creation.

Everson Pereira

If the Yankees are making Jones untouchable, they should probably be amenable to moving the second-place finisher in exit velocity among Baseball America's Top 100 Prospects.

That would be Everson Pereira, who didn't impress in his first big-league stint last summer and brought more swing-and-miss to the table than high-impact contact, but remains highly thought of among the game's experts.

Obviously -- obviously -- having outfield depth for the first time in years isn't a great reason, in a vacuum, to start trading away outfield depth. For the Yankees specifically, though, the intention is to carry Aaron Judge, Jasson Dominguez, Spencer Jones and Juan Soto for quite a while, with Giancarlo Stanton remaining in the DH/OF rotation out of compunction (for now).

If Pereira was the final minor-league name worth watching, it wouldn't feel like the Yankees were in a strong enough position to deal him, especially with lingering Soto uncertainty and Dominguez's Tommy John rehab. But there's plenty of tantalizing talent beyond Pereira, too. Names like Brando Mayea (already a consensus top-10 prospect) and John Cruz lurk at the lower levels of the minors.

While Pereira remains the apple of BA's eye, FanGraphs has already bumped him down to the No. 17 spot on their Top 36 Yankees Prospects list entering 2024. It appears to be high time for the Yankees to preempt this negative momentum and conflicting opinions by making Pereira the centerpiece of a deal for, say, Shane Bieber.

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