TRADE NOW!

All MLB teams have now played a handful of games beyond the 50% mark for this season.  With that, at this point of the season, I can only feel total disappointment towards the Yankees and their see-saw record in which they now sit at 2 games below the .500 mark (42-44).  So much for my prediction a few months ago - at least at this point!

Of course, any optimistic Yankees’ fan can relate to our great Yogi Berra’s “It ain’t over till it’s over.” quote; but, a pessimist (or, perhaps in this case, a realist) would say that they’ve seen enough of this team to put that belief to the side in this case because these Yankees have not offered enough hope to even attempt to prove Yogi right.  I’ve watched so many games in my life - even during the seasons where the Yankees were worse than this, but most of those teams had more excitement to them.  For instance, even though they never won a World Series with Rickey Henderson in pinstripes during the mid-to-late 80s, he certainly electrified the game with his exciting base-stealing success.  Likewise, Don Mattingly and Dave Winfield offered a batting title competition in 1984 through the last game of the season.  Our speedsters, Gardner and Ellsbury, lure fans to sleep with their cautionary base-stealing and we certainly don’t have any player that could come close to a batting title challenge.

This Yankees’ team overall offense has been insubstantial and their starting pitching has offered opposing teams batting practice launches.   Certainly, their 1-2-3 punches of Dellin Betances, Andrew Miller, and Aroldis Chapman have pretty much shown us what we all expected, but they rarely get to perform with the Yankees ahead in a game by the 7^th inning.  Other positive contributors this season have included Carlos Beltran, Didi Gregorius, and Starlin Castro.  The accomplishments of the aforementioned six players equate to about one-fourth of the team, or 25% of positivity!  No wonder I find myself changing the channel way too often.

We’ve been waiting for the older players (A-Rod, CC, Beltran, and Mark Teixeira) to reach the end of their contracts and we’re getting closer and closer - thankfully.  While Beltran has certainly over-performed this year, he is still a detriment in right field.  The Yankees need to trade him now, while his value is high - and I mean trade him right now, before he ends up injured and untradeable!

The Yankees have enough assets to really make a splash and make their team solid enough for years to come.  As I’ve alluded to in the past, they do indeed have a group of young players very near to reaching the majors (Gary Sanchez, Aaron Judge, and Ben Gamel) - perhaps this August or September.  Certainly, two reserve players, Austin Romine and Rob Refsnyder, have contributed to the team this year. Sanchez, Judge, and/or Gamel would offer so much promise towards excitement and hope - even this season!

Basically, we need to attain 2 solid starters and 2 solid hitters.  I don’t want to trade Andrew Miller - a player who many teams have expressed interest to acquire.  Let’s instead trade Chapman even though the return would be less (because of his abuse charges and his upcoming free agency).  His 100-plus miles-per-hour fastball and his closing record offer enough to bring back a very good return.

I'm not one of those fans who's ignorantly looking to gain great returns for devalued assets such as the Yankees' high-paid players who are under-producing (Jacoby Ellsbury, A-Rod, Chase Headley, or Teixeira) or even the lower-salaried players who have been under-producing (Nathan Eovaldi or Michael Pineda).  The Yankees do have tradable assets with high enough values.  That's why I believe that Beltran, Chapman, Gardner, and/or McCann could individually or collectively bring back worthy returns - some who can make the team immediately better.  With the non-waiver trading deadline approaching (August 1), let's trade now before our trading assets get hurt!