The Trade Deadline has come and gone, and the Yankees didn’t do anything. What does this mean, and how should we react to it?
A week ago, I released my Yankees trade deadline predictions piece, which you can find here. Mainly, I predicted a couple of things: Marcus Stroman would get shipped to the Yanks and the Bombers would also add a reliever. Well, fast forward to 4:54 P.M. and the Yankees got, drum roll please, nobody.
Nope. Nobody. Not Robbie Ray, Not Trevor Bauer, not even Shane Greene. Absolutely no one. The team with not one starting pitcher with an ERA below 4.00 didn’t make a move. Weird.
The Rich Get Richer
But wait, there’s more! Fellow American League powerhouse Houston Astros were also looking quite dormant until they weren’t. Within the final half-hour of the deadline, the Astros acquired Joe Biagini, Aaron Sanchez and Diamondbacks ace Zack Greinke.
The Astros, currently with two aces (Gerrit Cole and Justin Verlander) added another top tier starter. The Yankees, with no true ace, didn’t even add a mid-rotation starter. Funny.
We all know that this Astro team is probably American League favorites right now, and hey, good for them, right? They saw an opening and jumped through in a refusal to sit quietly through the 4 P.M. deadline. With an offense and pitching staff as potent as theirs, good luck, rest of the American League.
Can the Yankees Still Win a World Series?
Well, of course, they can. This team is still very talented but failed to make the necessary additions at the deadline to bolster the team. That doesn’t change the current talent level of the unit itself. The Yankees will still win a lot of games and will probably still walk away with a division title.
The problem is that getting through the postseason hoping that the entire rotation turns it around against baseball’s best is going to be an all-out battle and not an easy one. Can the Yankees still be World Series Champions in November? Sure, but come October, the Yankees will be in for a war with the Twins, Astros and other teams.
What Does All This Mean?
Essentially, the Yankees will be relying on quite a few things. First, they’re going to hope that the rotation will find their groove. Primarily guys like Paxton and Happ will need to step up. They also need to hope that Domingo German can continue to have a halfway-decent season and avoid falling off in September and October.
The X-Factor here is the injured stars, mainly Luis Severino and Dellin Betances. The Yankees will be hopeful that Sevy and Betances can get back onto the field and return to their impressive form. The problem is that you can never really be sure about those two players, considering they’ve dealt with injury the entire season.
And I’ll give you another X-Factor, just for fun: Deivi Garcia, the 66th best prospect in baseball, according to MLB.com. The Yankees top prospect has rushed through the minors and looks like he is fast approaching the majors. If Garcia can come up to the bigs and make an impact, it would help relinquish the blow of not adding another pitcher.