Yankees fans make their Spencer Jones trade thoughts abundantly clear amid breakout

Don't look now, but the New York Yankees' unicorn prospect has made some pretty impressive strides this season, re-entering the big-league conversation. But ... for which team?

Spencer Jones has shaken off a brief injury absence, continuing to impact the ball as hard as he ever has. More notably, he's doing it with more consistency, bashing 15 home runs in 162 at-bats and getting his OPS near 1.000 at the level he struggled to crack last summer. It's difficult to look as pedestrian as Jones did last year with this set of all-world tools, but his propensity for whiffing (200 in 122 games last year) was obscuring his speed, fielding prowess and power.

The strikeouts haven't disappeared this year by any means (65 in 46 games), clouding his long-term projection. But the stats are finally there to make this a legitimate conversation: can Jones be the rare big-bodied big leaguer who can still play, despite his ceiling-limiting swing-and-miss?

Given the uncertainty that will always be there in any future projections, no matter how well he hits, Yankee fans seem almost 100% aligned: there's never been a better time to sell him to the other 29 teams.

Yankees fans almost unanimous: Sell high on Spencer Jones at MLB trade deadline

Not only has Jones put himself back in the trade deadline spotlight with a wart-limited first half, but this just so happens to be a moment where the Yankees' corresponding need is very obvious (and potentially available). Every Yankee fan should be rooting for two things at the moment: Diamondbacks losses, and powerhouse Jones dingers.

The fans are nearly unanimous here. You have to sift through 500 "sell high" replies to find even one fan that would rather hold until next spring and keep a spot in the outfield open.

That's not a harsh judgment on Jones' obvious talent. It's just an acknowledgment that his particular profile makes success seem somewhat fickle, and that if he can be used to obtain a surer thing, he absolutely should be. That's baseball economics.

The desired return in a "sell high" Jones trade is extremely clear: either a right-handed ace-type to pair with Carlos Rodón/Max Fried, or a powerful everyday third baseman like Suarez. That's what makes holding Jones out of a pre-2024 deal for Corbin Burnes so doubly painful, but we won't dwell on that.

Equally obvious? The next steps if Jones is dealt. Cody Bellinger has more than proven himself as a valued Yankee; nobody would be bemoaning his return if the two sides worked out something slightly longer-term to eliminate his option year. He fits like a glove.

Not enthused about Jasson Dominguez? Then don't let that stop you from throwing the bag at Kyle Tucker, too. Maximizing Jones' value would also remove an impediment to that process.

Do the Yankees win the 2024 World Series with Burnes in the rotation? Given what plagued them in the Fall Classic, it's hard to believe he would've solved everything. In fact, Burnes probably would've demonstrated his frustration with the Yankees' shoddy defense publicly, causing even more of a scene.

Thankfully, 2025 represents another prime opportunity for the Yankees to correct the narrative, and Jones has made himself a possible summer centerpiece in that ongoing process.