2. David Justice
The Yankees may not win the 2000 World Series without David Justice.
Prior to the deadline, Cashman traded starting outfielder Ricky Ledee and pitchers Zach Day and Jake Westbrook to the Cleveland Indians in order to acquire Justice, who brought the Yankees a third legitimate power bat in the middle of the order.
Ledee slashed .241/.322/.419 with New York in 2000 and would only amount to a .243/.325/.412 career slash line and Day only started in 60 games in 5 total seasons with a 4.66 ERA. Westbrook was valuable, but what they got in Justice, they won’t lose sleep over giving away a .500 career pitcher.
Especially when Justice went on to hit .305 with 20 homers and 60 RBI in 78 games while New York went 50-39 down the stretch to win the AL East after being only two games over .500 when Cashman made the trade.
He returned for the 2001 season and did not do much (18 homers in 111 games) before being traded to the Oakland Athletics in the offseason but he would be the MVP of the 2000 ALCS win over the Mariners. With that, there’s no denying that his presence brought the Yankees their third World Series title in a row.
