4 blowup trades Yankees must consider if Aaron Judge is ruled out for 2023

Say Goodbye to Luis Severino and Domingo Germán

Doesn't matter what you get in return. If the Wild Card race starts looking like a longshot, the name of the game is to clean house of as many guys who don't have a future or don't consistently contribute positively.

This is bad "timing" because of Domingo Germán's perfect game against the A's, but before that, he put up two of the worst outings from a starter all season (5.1 total innings and 17 runs against the Mariners and Red Sox). But is the perfecto a sign of good things to come or an indicator that the Yankees can possibly get more value than they expected for the right-hander?

Germán has just one year of club control left and he was really only a featured member of this rotation because of early-season injuries. He should be sent off if things continue to get worse.

And that brings us to Severino, who should've been gone a long time ago. He hasn't contributed positively in a consistent manner since 2018. He's failed to stay healthy for five seasons. He's failed to seize the moment when he's had the opportunity over that span. The Yankees gambled by picking up his $15 million team option, and they're once again paying for it.

A team down on their luck with pitching would probably be able and willing to take Sevy off the Yankees' hands over the next few weeks. Maybe they see a tweak they can make, get positive results, and convince him to re-sign. It'd be a worthwhile risk to take.

His tenure in New York was always ending after 2023. What's the harm in getting a head start? He's been dreadful since the beginning of June. He's issued 14 walks and surrendered nine home runs in his last 28.2 innings. There's no "fixing" this for New York over the final three months.

Plunder the Bullpen: Michael King should be on the table

If Michael King's worst stretch of play since 2021 when the Yankees needed him most over the last month didn't slightly change your opinion on the right-hander, then maybe you were hypnotized by his fairly short stretch of consistent effectiveness.

King is good, there's no doubt, but he very much doesn't have a lengthy track record to unequivocally warrant him as the future of the bullpen. He owns a 3.60 ERA, 3.41 FIP and 1.20 WHIP in 93 career games. Solid. Not untradeable. Not a cornerstone.

He has two years of team control left and will undoubtedly carry heftier salaries in 2024 and 2025. His value will never be higher. The Yankees print high-end relief pitching. Why not capitalize on a market that's always desperate for pitching and then re-tool the bullpen, something that's been a constant positive for this team since Mariano Rivera's departure?

Same goes for everybody else. Wandy Peralta is in a contract year and he's probably not coming back. Send him out and get value. If you can get anything for Albert Abreu, do it. Clay Holmes has only one full year left of control and he won't be cheap in 2024 (he's making $3.3 million this year). Don't trade all of them, but at least two of those guys should be dealt to save some money and replenish some value elsewhere. The Yankees did this in a more extreme fashion back in 2016 and then immediately returned to the ALCS the next year.

Offer to eat $30 million to ship Giancarlo Stanton out

It's sad to say, but it's evident Giancarlo Stanton's best days are far in the rearview. He returned from the IL on June 2 and still can't play every day. So what's the point? Why even entertain the remote possibility he'll remain a fixture in this lineup through 2027?

When Stanton's hot, this Yankees team couldn't look better. When he's cold, this team looks its absolute worst. And he's been far more cold than hot ever since 2019. He's hamstrung the flexibility of the lineup being locked into the DH spot with his constant injury troubles giving the Yankees hesitation about using him in the outfield -- and he needs to play defense, because it directly correlates to a positive uptick in his offense.

If you're paying Stanton the full price of admission ($26 million AAV from now through 2027), you're at a loss. If you're being hesitant about using him on defense, you're at a loss. If he's on the IL, you're at a loss. So why not see if another team will take him at the deadline? If the Yankees toss $30 million in a deal to get rid of him, that makes Stanton a $17 million AAV player for the rest of his contract. Wouldn't a least a couple teams be willing to entertain that?

Maybe not. But there's no winning with Stanton on the Yankees. His inability to stay healthy has cost this team dearly (and it doesn't help that the Yankees' medical staff is arguably the worst in the sport). If he can't play regularly when he's healthy, then what's the point? If the team is going to continually proceed with caution with somebody they view as a key component of their lineup, then they're doing it wrong. Either he's contributing 100% or not.

The bottom line is one of the supposed best hitters in the league can't be holding a team back for this many reasons. The sooner the Yankees can free up this money assuming things progressively go south, the better off they'll be for it as they figure out their future outlook with Aaron Judge and Gerrit Cole atop the payroll.

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