Yankees general manager Brian Cashman granted WFAN’s Craig Carton and Evan Roberts a post-trade deadline audience Thursday afternoon. The somewhat-vexing Jordan Montgomery deal came up during the interview.
In case you missed it: Cashman dealt Montgomery, a reliable lefty with a 3.69 ERA, to the Cardinals for currently-injured outfielder Harrison Bader right before the buzzer. You have to give something up to get something, and Bader will bring an excellent glove and speed when healthy. But why move Montgomery with Luis Severino out until September, Nestor Cortes facing workload questions and Gerrit Cole and Jameson Taillon both struggling?
Carton presented a theory earlier in the show. He speculated the Yankees had a companion deal for another starting pitcher fall through. And then they could not get out of the Bader-Montgomery deal.
Carton asked Cashman if that was the case. Cashman said it was not. And then Carton more or less said Cashman lied once the interview ended.
The Yankees had a deal in place to ship centerfielder Aaron Hicks to the Marlins for right-hander Pablo Lopez, Carton said. He did not elaborate on the source for his information. But, Carton said, Miami general manager Kim Ng called the deal off at the last second.
Many folks are already calling BS. Including one of Carton’s WFAN colleagues. And it does seem very unlikely the Marlins would make a straight-up trade. Lopez is a 26-year-old starter with two more seasons of team control after this one. Hicks is about to turn 33. And he’s a mediocre outfielder owned close to $30 million over the next three years before his buyout option comes up.
But Hicks, a prospect or two (Oswald Peraza?) and some cash for Lopez? That seems more realistic.
Say that deal was conditionally agreed to. The Bader-Montgomery deal makes a lot more sense then. The Yankees would just need to slap things together with Matt Carpenter and Marwin Gonzalez for a while. Then they would get Giancarlo Stanton back, followed by Bader. And an outfield of Bader in center with Andrew Benintendi and Aaron Judge in the corners and Stanton DHing sounds pretty darn good come October.
Crazier things have been thrown out on the ‘FAN.
James Kratch can be reached at james.kratch@xlmedia.com
