Astros failing to own Yankees and complete Yandy Diaz trade was shocking

The 2024 MLB trade deadline has passed. Yandy Diaz is still a member of the Tampa Bay Rays. So is Pete Fairbanks. Despite Tampa's near-complete sell-off, the two players Yankees fans coveted most didn't go anywhere.

It's unsurprising that Brian Cashman didn't find it fitting to pay a tremendous cost to bring two in-division stars to the Bronx, selling low on Spencer Jones just so the Rays' scouts could find the heart of his dissolving hit tool. What is surprising, though, is that the every-trade-deadline Yankees enemy that routinely shreds their confidence with one final, gutting swing couldn't find a way to win the Diaz bidding.

First, it was the Yankees, Astros and Pirates. Then, it became the Yankees, Astros and Mariners. With an hour left before the deadline bell, both New York and Houston were reportedly talking to Tampa Bay's braintrust about Diaz. This isn't our first rodeo, even though we wish every day that it were. We know how this thing goes. When it's down to the Yankees and Astros, Houston goes the extra mile, no matter who's in the GM chair. Cashman hits pause. Typically, it leads to ALCS defeat (Justin Verlander in 2017, Zack Greinke in 2019).

But this time around ... nobody budged.

Yankees don't lose Yandy Diaz to Astros at MLB trade deadline

What felt like a daring prediction at the end of June became completely reasonable by mid-July, as the Rays shopped Diaz, Fairbanks, and Brandon Lowe, and would seemingly have had no issue dealing any one of them to their AL East neighbors. Isaac Paredes and Randy Arozarena both went, one to a stunning buyer, the other in the dead of night across the country. The Rays never worry about losing a deal, and likely would've dropped off their on-base monster first baseman if the Yankees had paid up.

They would've preferred to hand him to the Astros, though, and further cook their rival's hopes.

Given the amount of prospect capital Astros GM Dana Brown used to woo the Blue Jays into giving up Yusei Kikuchi (wow, twist their arm...), it's somewhat surprising they weren't able to go the extra mile and add the menacing Diaz to essentially play the Yuli Gurriel role. While Houston didn't have much down on the farm to begin with, they kept top prospects like Jacob Melton and Brice Matthews, who was rested on deadline day. Matthews headlining, plus two hand-picked pitchers the Rays had some level of fondness for, probably gets a deal done and trumps a Jones-less, timid Yankees package.

The Astros truly went for it with Kikuchi, probably to an unwise degree. It's hard to believe they couldn't find it within themselves to go even one step further, pulling one over on Cashman in the process.