The New York Yankees have already gotten their “white whale” but recent reports have confirmed they are still in the running to potentially land Josh Hader.
What? You thought Cashman Claus was done?
The New York Yankees expressed interest in adding All-Star reliever Josh Hader to their bullpen when it first became clear the Milwaukee Brewers were listening to offers. Right before Christmas, the interest from the Yankees was confirmed again, this time by Jon Heyman of MLB Network.
Yankees remain interested in Josh Hader and could begin a package with 3B Miguel Andujar (Brewers don’t really have a set 3B). Interested teams still aren’t totally convinced Milwaukee would move the star closer though.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) December 22, 2019
The Yankees already have a stacked bullpen and have been listening cautiously to trades considering Miguel Andujar, who has of interest in several talks, according to Brian Cashman earlier this offseason on ESPN Radio’s The Michael Kay Show.
Perhaps the biggest mystery is why the Yankees are still in on Hader when it’s become very clear the organization’s greatest asset is their bullpen. If Hader were to make the jump to the Bronx, he would be yet another closer who wouldn’t be closing, just like Zack Britton.
However, if a talent like Hader is available, and the Yankees are able to snag him for a low-risk package, that bullpen would turn into an embarrassment of riches.
Selected in the 2012 MLB First-Year Player Draft, Hader made his MLB debut in 2017 and has since earned two All-Star appearances as well as two NL Reliever of the Year awards. The 25-year-old secured 37 games and struck out 138 in 75.2 innings of work in 2019.
Add that arm to that of Aroldis Chapman, Zack Britton, Adam Ottavino, Tommy Kahnle and Chad Green, and you’ve got an unstoppable group to shut down opponents in the later innings.
The likelihood that this will happen? Not great. The New York Yankees would likely have to shed more than Andujar, including some prized prospects like Deivi Garcia, to get the Brewers to bite.
But for now, we can only wish that maybe Brian Cashman has a few other tricks up his sleeve. Instead of dreaming with visions of sugar plums, maybe we can dream with visions of an absolutely unstoppable force of a bullpen for 2020.
