Yankees News: Multiple trade targets off the board, Luis Severino, Gleyber Torres

Perhaps the New York Yankees scoring ZERO (0) runs during Friday night's loss to the Baltimore Orioles was enough for general manager Brian Cashman to shift his trade deadline focus? Because we're not sure what else explains the Yankees' inactivity as they watch teams around them get better.

The Bombers dropped their weekend series to the O's and were embarrassed on Sunday Night Baseball in the rubber match (we'll get to that in a few), but most importantly, two of New York's rumored trade targets were dealt to AL competitors.

Did fans necessarily love those targets? Not exactly. But at this point we're wondering what might even be left once 4 p.m. ET rolls around on Tuesday.

First, the Blue Jays improved their bullpen by acquiring Jordan Hicks from the St. Louis Cardinals. Just a few days prior, it was reported the Yankees were zoning in on the right-handed reliever in an effort to lengthen their faltering relief corps.

Instead, the Yankees will now be facing Hicks in a heated AL playoff race. They trail the Jays by 3.5 games for the final Wild Card spot.

Yankees News: Multiple trade targets off the board, Luis Severino, Gleyber Torres

After the Hicks deal, late on Sunday night, the Yankees lost out on their apparent left fielder of choice in Randal Grichuk, who was traded to the LA Angels alongside CJ Cron. That could've been a worthwhile package deal for the Yanks, too, who could certainly use first base/backup first base help as long as Anthony Rizzo continues to do whatever he's doing (he struck out five times for the first time in his career on Sunday night).

The Angels, who trail the Yankees by a half-game in the Wild Card race, have bolstered their roster in a big way this past week. Grichuk and Cron join Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo Lopez, two pitchers who came over in a trade with the White Sox.

Again, the Yankees have done nothing and have been close to nothing. All we've heard is that the Miami Marlins are trying to acquire Gleyber Torres, but Cashman's asking price has rightfully been steep. If Gleyber is dealt, the return better be massive because the second baseman is being sold at his peak.

Torres has been the Yankees' best hitter not named Aaron Judge in 2023, which is good for his trade value but not great for the Yankees, who need Torres to be their fifth- or sixth-best hitter based on how they constructed their roster.

That's another reason the trade deadline feels bleak. Every piece the Yankees can get value for, it's probably not the wisest idea to trade them. Every piece the Yankees need to get rid of, nobody wants. Speaking of ...

Luis Severino became the second pitcher in Yankees history (and first since 1934) to allow 9+ earned runs in the first inning two times in the same season. There's a new doomsday stat every single day for this team.

Sevy was coming off two encouraging outings and then completely torpedoed his trade value (it if wasn't already since potential suitors probably weren't convinced he was returning to form after two solid starts). All Yankees fans know is that he cannot remain on this roster for much longer. The Yankees need to part with him, and if they're lucky they'll get a team to pay 50% of his remaining salary for nothing in return. Just shuck him off the roster and fill the spot with somebody else to prepare for 2024.

Though the Yankees' one consistent strength this year has been their starting pitching, it probably would've been nice to have Jordan Montgomery still. We all love Harrison Bader, but he's played in just 70 games since coming over in a trade midway through last year and has an 86 OPS+ over that span.

On Sunday, the Cardinals traded Montgomery to the Texas Rangers, who are the definition of all in. They acquired Max Scherzer the day prior in a deal with the New York Mets and had the three-time Cy Young winner opt into his contract for the 2024 season. With Jacob deGrom out for the season and Nathan Eovaldi hitting the IL with a forearm strain, Texas is, at the very least, keeping pace with its current pace and will get even better should Eovaldi return soon.

Also, for everyone who thought the Monty-for-Bader trade was a "win" for the Yanks, it might be time to think again. Bader's undoubtedly been an asset in countless ways, but Cashman would've never needed to trade for him had he not made countless fatal errors when addressing the outfield. Montgomery enjoyed an awesome 32-start stint in St. Louis, going 12-12 with a 3.31 ERA, 3.52 FIP and 1.19 WHIP with 169 strikeouts in 184.2 innings. Bader's been injured four times.

The Yankees insisted Montgomery wouldn't be making postseason starts for them last year, and now he'll be doing so on an AL contender a year later. If that's not a troublesome foreshadowing of the Yankees' decision making before 4 p.m. ET on Tuesday, then we don't know what is.