MLB Rumors: Brian Cashman plans to deal this summer at trade deadline
By Hayden Kane
It might be a seller’s market this summer as Major League Baseball’s trade deadline approaches, but you better believe that the New York Yankees plan to be one of the many buyers.
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Yankees’ general manager Brian Cashman said he would play things close to the vest, but that doesn’t mean he’s going to pretend the Yankees won’t be active. The veteran GM was happy to admit that he plans to make a trade or multiple trades this summer. As quoted by Ken Davidoff of the New York Post:
"“We usually make moves every year,” Cashman said before the Yankees continued their big series with the Blue Jays, “so I expect to make moves.”“I feel that we do have the ability to make trades if that’s a route we so choose,” Cashman said. “How we line up with other clubs, I don’t know … but I definitely have people that are wanted within the industry. But we want those guys, too. We’ll see.”"
The two areas of need for the Yankees are glaring: the infield and the starting rotation. In either case they will have to get aggressive to outbid their fellow sellers, including the team they are chasing in the American League East in the Toronto Blue Jays.
One thing the Yankees seem to do well is respond to moves made by other teams. I am thinking of a scenario this summer where the Blue Jays win the race to the cost-effective trade for Cubs’ starter Jason Hammel. Would anybody be surprised if such a trade, if it happened, set the wheels in motion for the Yankees to land Jeff Samardzija, Cliff Lee, or even David Price? Then there is also the possibility of trying to be the team to convince Chase Utley to waive his no-trade clause and join them for a playoff run.
Davidoff suggests that the Yankees would prefer a low-risk, less splashy trade. Depending on who acts first, however, here’s betting the Yankees are candidates to do something bold after an off-season full of those kinds of moves.