Yankees' omission from MLB.com's trade candidate list is concerning

The New York Yankees are still a playoff team, but this roster has left a lot to be desired. And when Aaron Judge has been absent, it's really showed how vulnerable the remaining collective is, which is concerning for reasons we don't really need to elaborate upon.

All we'll say is that the absence of a singular player on any MLB team shouldn't force a roster to morph from a top-five contender into a bottom-three loser. But that's been the reality for New York.

That's obviously created a dire situation for the Bombers over the last three weeks, which has accelerated conversations surrounding the trade deadline. Once upon a time, it seemed like the Yankees and general manager Brian Cashman would have to make additions at the margins to perfect what appeared to be a championship roster had (most) bounces gone their way.

Well, what's happened now that zero (0) bounces have gone their way? There's a lot of work to be done ahead of Aug. 1 at 4 p.m. ET.

But if you ask MLB.com, that's apparently not the case? Insider Mark Feinsand identified 10 of his top trade candidates at this juncture of the season (obviously subject to change), ranging from relievers to starters to everyday bats to bench bats, and didn't list the Yankees as a potential destination for any of them. Not once.

MLB.com's assessment of trade candidates seems like bad news for Yankees

Maybe Aaron Boone was right when he said this trade deadline was going to be a boring one for all MLB fans.

In this article, Feinsand predicted the following players will be available leading up to the trade deadline:

• Royals RP Aroldis Chapman
• Royals RP Scott Barlow
• Guardians SP Shane Bieber
• Nationals 3B Jeimer Candelario
• Cardinals SP Jack Flaherty
• White Sox SP Lucas Giolito
• Athletics INF Jace Peterson
• Mets OF Tommy Pham
• Tigers SP Eduardo Rodriguez
• Cubs SP Marcus Stroman

Now, it's safe to say we can rule out Chapman, Rodriguez and Stroman. Chapman is not coming back to New York; Rodriguez has a big salary with too much of an up-and-down history; and Stroman has famously been outspoken against the Yankees.

But there was no mention of the Yankees' potential involvement with the other seven, very viable candidates that could help out their situation. Is this an indication Cashman and Co. will be quiet at this year's deadline? Is there a legitimate belief none of these players would be of interest to New York?

Each of those scenarios are concerning because, well, there aren't expected to be a ton of names available in trade talks this summer with the extended playoff field creating more robut competition. So even if these players weren't of interest to the Yankees, they really wouldn't have much of a choice because it's a limited pool to choose from.

The Yankees, as of right now, need to upgrade, so it's not particularly encouraging to see a trade article like this published about a month before talks start to heat up completely excluding the Yankees from the discussion.