Yankees Rumors: NYY could use outfield surplus for Josh Donaldson Trade 2.0

The New York Yankees face a major trade deadline challenge, partially of their own making. They needed a third baseman in March. They still need one now. That is their fault. However, they did make a Plan B effort to beef up the rotation and bullpen and ended up in the same shoes as the Offseason Champion Dodgers after succumbing to injuries along the way.

Two perceived strengths of the Yankees are now either weaknesses or veering in that direction, forcing them to portion out their trade assets a little differently than they anticipated.

According to former MLB GM Jim Bowden, writing for The Athletic, the Yankees will likely use their prospect pipeline to acquire pitching help (and have plenty of not-quite-ready high-end pitching to deal away). They might consider a more creative contender-to-contender trade in order to add a third baseman, though, selling from their outfield overflow.

Perhaps that involves Everson Pereira, currently toiling away and slugging at Triple-A. Maybe they could go wilder, though, with Bowden speculating about the availability of everyone from Jasson Dominguez to Trent Grisham to Cody Bellinger.

While Bowden's proposed trades with the Mets for the likes of Mark Vientos and Brett Baty seem particularly loony, the deal he brought up with the KC Royals for potential target Maikel Garcia piqued our interest. Garcia and Jazz Chisholm Jr., of course, continued their well-publicized feud a few weeks back with a hard tag at third base, leaving Chisholm dazed and complaining about how Garcia always seems to get into the middle of things.

The last time the Yankees surrendered an MLB asset (Gio Urshela, Gary Sánchez) in exchange for a player someone on the roster already despised? Gerrit Cole was forced to welcome Josh Donaldson to the Bronx, and things never boiled over, but they definitely also didn't function properly. Are we about to experience a midseason redux of that offseason fumble?

Yankees Rumors: Outfield depth on market in exchange for Maikel Garcia, Mark Vientos?

Garcia, rightly named to the All-Star roster late in the process, would check plenty of boxes for the Yankees, as long as his arrival doesn't cause clubhouse chaos. Bat-to-ball skills? Check; he's got a 119 OPS+ with only 54 strikeouts this season. Can handle shortstop in a pinch? He has three starts at the position this season. Versatility, spark plug, sneaky pop, check, check, check.

But would it really be worth it to lose Grisham's power potential after he's worked to make himself invaluable? The Yankees' four-man outfield rotation has been a genuine strength. Why weaken the reserves and leave no line of defense on the bench?

Adding Garcia would be a win, but they'd better find an alternate trade path to make it worth Kansas City's while.