MLB Trade Deadline 2017: 5 best spots for Yu Darvish

4. New York Yankees

Things are going to have to change in a hurry for Yankees GM Brian Cashman to be convinced to add to this team at the deadline. Since the middle of June, the Yankees have lost two-thirds of their games and have dropped to third place in the AL East. The 50-50 games that were going the Yankees way in April and May are now going in the loss column.

Despite the losing, the Yankees have remained a competitive team. They just lost a weekend series to the Boston Red Sox 3-1, but played to an even 13-13 on the scoreboard. The Yankees can still make it worth going for in 2017 by winning a few more games over the next 10 days leading up to the trade deadline.

There was once a time when you could not count the Yankees out on every marquee name that hit the trade block or free agency. After the death of George Steinbrenner, Cashman and his front office have been able to rein things in, but the Yankees are still the Yankees at the end of the day. Last summer’s small-scale rebuild set them up with one of the best farm systems in baseball and they do have a need for starting pitching.

Darvish is an intriguing name to consider for the Yankees at the deadline because they do figure to be heavily involved in the bidding when he hits free agency. Starting a relationship with him earlier than anyone else can will only help their case. Find a way to sign Darvish long term and then focus on landing Shohei Otani, who idolizes him.