Yankees learned the harsh reality about Spencer Jones at MLB trade deadline

Five-tool athletic freak Spencer Jones has all the talent in the world -- except when it comes to putting bat on ball. As the Yankees have learned repeatedly in recent years, every possible swing tweak and reaction time improvement can marginally chip away at such a deficiency, but they can only mute it. They can't make it disappear.

Jones can drill a baseball into the night sky like a robotic arm tossing a cherry at the moon. He can make a horsehide sphere look like a rocketing white pea. Unfortunately, he has only done this 12 times in 2024, while striking out 140 times in 333 at-bats at Double-A. That type of K rate has almost never produced a viable major leaguer, outside of Joey Gallo and Javy Baéz, two nightmarish models (though both had their moments).

Unfortunately, the Yankees cannot obscure statistics. Their secret is out. The baseball world knows how tantalizing Jones can be, but they also see the red flags whipping as he races for second. At this point, the Yankees are better off hoping that whichever staffers once unlocked Aaron Judge have another successful project in their bones (or was that Teacherman?).

The only 2024 deadline targets worth surrendering Jones for, one would think, were Garret Crochet and Tarik Skubal, neither of whom moved. But did other MLB teams outside the New York media sphere value Jones so highly? The Yankees were obviously reticent to toss him into the Rays' lab in exchange for Yandy Diaz and Isaac Paredes, and Jack Flaherty's injury might've changed everything, but would the Marlins have demanded him for Tanner Scott? In his current state, could he have even headlined a Crochet trade?

The more the deadline dragged on, the likelier it seemed that Jones' trade value may have peaked this offseason, back when the Yankees balked at including him for either a rental in Corbin Burnes or a longer-term fit in Dylan Cease. Back then, the Yankees believed Jones to be a star and they thought better opportunities might come along to deal him midsummer. Those opportunities never materialized and Jones failed to emerge as the type of can't-miss talent that makes sellers change their minds.

Fittingly, both Cease (Drew Thorpe) and Flaherty (Trey Sweeney) were dealt in exchange for packages headlined by ex-Yankees.

Yankees missed their chance to trade Spencer Jones

Does Jones belong in a bucket with Oswald Peraza and Miguel Andújar? No; his tools still tantalize, and his defense should always be strong enough to make him a positive-WAR player (albeit an extremely frustrating one).

But, given the Yankees' intention to sign Juan Soto long-term, keep Aaron Judge in the outfield, and transition Jasson Dominguez back to the bigs, wouldn't they have been better off using Jones to block the Orioles for Burnes? Or overwhelming the White Sox for Cease, tasking them with solving Jones' K-rate issues themselves? Burnes would've felt like an overpay at the time, except ... tomorrow never came.

Now, the Yankees are left hoping that they can salvage some value here. Either that, or their nightmare potential post-Soto plan somehow looks even shakier than it did when Cease was on the table in March.