4 Yankees players who won't survive the trade deadline

Estevan Florial

The Yankees do not think Estevan Florial is a Yankee. Jimmy Cordero's suspension gave them a freed-up 40-man spot for Florial when Jake Bauers went down with a shoulder issue. They did not use it, promoting strikeout vacuum and Quad-A player (being generous) Franchy Cordero instead.

They don't believe Florial is a big-leaguer. They didn't want to be proven right or proven wrong last week. They simply wanted him to keep mashing at Triple-A. That screams, "We are trading him."

Florial entered Opening Day's showdown with the San Francisco Giants as a pinch-runner before officially being DFA'd and exposed to waivers (to facilitate the Franchy acquisition). Against all odds, he returned to the Yankees, indicating a startlingly low degree of interest. Nobody saw the Thairo Estrada Story and realized that sometimes, when the Yankees prioritize a D+ veteran instead of a young player, they're wrong to do so? Interesting.

All Florial has done is mash since returning to the organization, hitting 21 homers with a .985 OPS and 18 stolen bases in 272 at-bats this year. There's still plenty of swing and miss in his game, with 92 Ks, and at the age of 25, this may be his last opportunity to be a semi-valuable trade piece. No one was interested when the Yankees floated a trial balloon back in April. Has he done enough to be the third piece in a deadline swap since then?

Either way, the Yankees won't use him.