Proposed Yankees-Royals trade idea would make New Yorkers give up their fandom

Nobody is saying the New York Yankees — or any contender for that matter — won't have to pay up to acquire the assets they desire at this year's trade deadline. But how far is too far? We think we might've found out on Friday.

Jim Bowden published a column in The Athletic exploring five deadline deals he'd like to see, and he had the Yankees making a play for a starting third baseman. Sounds good, right? Yes, they surely needed one of those before acquiring Ryan McMahon.

But the third baseman in question? Absolutely not. The return package proposed? Never in a million years, unless you want fans to completely tune out for the second half — and some are already headed in that direction if things don't improve.

Bowden suggested the Yankees trade outfielder Jasson Dominguez to the Kansas City Royals in exchange for Maikel Garcia in a one-for-one swap. On the surface, for general baseball fans, it really doesn't sound like the worst idea. Garcia just received an All-Star nod this year and has four seasons of control remaining.

That said, Garcia has well-documented beef with the Yankees (and specifically Jazz Chisholm, who is here through 2026 at least). Not only that, but Dominguez has more team control, higher upside, and, despite his defensive issues, possesses far more star power than Garcia, who is having a "career year" hitting .291 with a .785 OPS.

Yankees should not trade Jasson Dominguez to Kansas City Royals

There's some logic here with the roster maneuvering. Garcia slots in at third, the Yankees call up Spencer Jones to be their fourth outfielder, and then they can focus utilizing their top assets to acquire more pitching. But if they are going to "give up" on Dominguez like this after 110 professional games, the return better be better than a lesser equivalent infield version of the former top international prospect.

Haven't the Yankees learned from upending their chemistry previously? The Josh Donaldson trade was a disaster on all fronts, which anybody could've predicted after he had publicly blasted Gerrit Cole the season prior. Joey Gallo was repeatedly deemed "not a fit" for New York, but the front office didn't listen to that and instead went ahead and made the worst trade deadline acquisition in modern history.

Dominguez might not be lighting the world on fire during his first full professional season, but fans can see that he's not far off from being a consistent force. Once again, his development is partially the Yankees' fault, too, for refusing to play him in his natural position of center field, so any devaluing of Dominguez's potential isn't totally on his shoulders. We have a much larger sample size of Garcia being an underwhelming player as well, based on his 86 and 74 OPS+ marks from 2023-2024, during which he totaled 280 games.

We'll pass on this one, Jim. But if the Yankees don't, they will once again be in the crosshairs of the fanbase.