Day 1 of the MLB Winter Meetings are in the books, and the New York Yankees remain interested in potential trades; a real possibility could be emerging.
By William Chase
Day 1 of the MLB Winter Meetings are underway from the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center here in Nashville, TN. While rumors fly surrounding free agents, and potential trade talks continue to loom for many teams, don’t expect the Yankees to be among the more busier teams. At least on the free agent watch.
The Yankees have been rumored this offseason regarding moving outfielder Brett Gardner, however nothing concrete exists there, and no talks thus far have led to suggest anything is close at all. Closer Andrew Miller is the latest Yankee to come up among rumors, but again, nothing so far.
Andrew Marchand, ESPN New York, made the case for the Yankees to include outfield prospect Aaron Judge in a trade for Miami Marlins’ ace José Fernández.
I would strongly considering trading Aaron Judge in a deal for Jose Fernandez. Fernandez is great, Judge might be great.
— Andrew Marchand (@AndrewMarchand) December 7, 2015
GM Brian Cashman is on the record as having said Judge would not be involved in trades going back to last season, and though he has suggested he does not intend to include the likes of Luis Severino, Greg Bird or Aaron Judge in deals, he admits he is ‘open to anything.’ While trading Severino would make absolutely zero sense — he’s a young, controllable pitcher with tremendous upside — and Bird appears to be the first baseman of the future, Judge for Fernandez could make sense.
Hearing tonight that Marlins think they’re making progress with unspecified team. But a deal still appears unlikely https://t.co/NKI3zZClAq — Jayson Stark (@jaysonst) December 8, 2015
Fernández, a 23-year-old, is 22-9 in his career which started in 2013 with Miami. Though he had Tommy John surgery in 2014, he returned in 2015 posting a 6-1 record, 2.92 ERA, in 11 starts. Another huge selling point for Fernández is he’s under team control, which the Yankees need.
The Yankees need to get younger, and being able to acquire controllable talent, while simultaneously playing them at the Major League level is the ultimate goal. While Judge is considered a great prospect, it remains to be seen what he will do at the Major League level.
According to ESPN’s Buster Olney on Monday, the chances of Fernández being traded has increased, and as rumors continue, those percentages might even be higher now.
Source said this morning pegged odds of a Jose Fernandez trade at 1%. Now: “I’d push that into the 40s(%).” MIA can get a lot in return.
— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) December 7, 2015
A rotation headed by Masahiro Tanaka, and consisting of bright, young pitchers including the likes of Luis Severino, Nathan Eovaldi and Michael Pineda, the addition of José Fernández is intriguing, and lends insight to a potentially very deep rotation. The Yankees still have CC Sabathia and Iván Nova. While CC would be considered a bonus at this point, Nova could still be traded this offseason.
Yankees’ pitching coach Larry Rothschild helped transform Eovaldi into one of the more reliable New York’ pitchers, and teaming up with Eovaldi could help Fernández in a possible Big Apple transition.
