In his tenure with the Yankees, Brian Cashman has become one of the best GMs in baseball and has made an abundance of underrated acquisitions.
Brian Cashman is one of, if not, the best general manager in baseball right now. He has made countless amazing trades that have really helped the Yankees. Whether it was the steal of Didi Gregorius, or getting Gleyber Torres just to get Chapman back the year later. Cashman always seems to get the job done. However, there was one trade that isn’t talked about enough and it happens to be one of Cashman’s best trades in recent memory. On December 9, 2015 The Yankees traded Justin Wilson to the Tigers for two prospects. Luis Cessa and Chad Green. Here is a look back at just how good this trade has been.
Luis Cessa
At the time of the trade, Cessa was the Tigers number six prospect. Cessa was a young starting pitcher that featured good raw stuff. A good fastball and a filthy slider. He made his debut with the MLB club in 2016 and has been back and forth between the minors and big leagues for most of his career up until recently. Since 2016, Cessa has been decent for the Yankees, nothing too special but he has shown flashes of great potential. It wasn’t until 2019 that Cessa began to really show why he was rated that high in the Tigers organization.
In 2019, Cessa had his best year with the Yankees and his career. He pitched to a 4.11 ERA, but what is most impressive is his 3.66 ERA in the second half of 2019. Cessa has locked down a spot in the bullpen and hopefully when the season starts he will continue to show his great stuff.
Chad Green
The Yankees struck gold with Green in this trade. He was ranked as the Tigers 19th best prospect and once on the Yankees, he didn’t even crack the top 20. He was up with the team in 2016 and struggled a bit, pitching to an ERA over four. But in 2017 something clicked. Since 2017, Chad Green has been one of the best relievers in baseball and on the Yankees. In 2017, Green pitched to a 1.83 ERA. In 2018, Green pitched to a 2.50 ERA and in the second half of 2019, he pitched to a 2.89 ERA. Chad Green has an electric fastball that hitters can’t seem to hit. I truly don’t know where the Yankees would be right now if they didn’t have Chad Green in their bullpen.
This is one of Cashman’s most underrated trades as while Green has been much better than Cessa, both have played big roles and had big moments for the team.