After trading for Zach Britton, the Yankees will be hard to beat in October

The New York Yankees have won the Zach Britton sweepstakes, landing the closer in a trade that’s hard to hate.

After trading away Manny Machado it was only a matter of time before the floodgates opened in Baltimore. Zach Britton, who is a year removed from Cy Young consideration despite being a closer, was rumored to be involved in a potential Machado deal. Instead, the Orioles held onto him and doubled their return, dealing him to the New York Yankees.

It’s a rare trade between two AL East teams, but the stars aligned. New York is trying to find the missing pieces of a World Series roster while Baltimore is trying to get as much back for its best players as possible in this lost season.

Adam Jones now appears to be the final major piece the Orioles need to move before the deadline passes on Monday, but that might not be hard. Jones isn’t on his way to Los Angeles or New York, but there’s heavy interest from Cleveland. If the Orioles are able to pull off another trade like they did in dealing Machado and Britton, there is a bright future in Baltimore.

As far as the Britton-to-New York deal, there’s a lot to unpack, from the Orioles winning two trades for their two best players, to the Yankees getting even nastier in the backend of their bullpen.

Here is what the trade looked like on Tuesday night:

Obviously, it’s easy to say that the Orioles didn’t win the trade since they gave up one of their best players. New York’s bullpen is going to be a nightmare in the postseason, but if Baltimore had to give up Britton then there were worse deals to be had.

New York Yankees

This weekend saw the Oakland Athletics make a trade for Jeurys Familia, a closer who bolstered an already great bullpen. If that deal was

Britton is a year removed from being hands down the best closer in baseball and was considered a Cy Young candidate despite not being a starter. It takes a lot to be in the conversation with Justin Verlander and Clayton Kershaw when you pitch roughly six-to-seven fewer innings than they do.

But that’s who the Yankees are getting, and it makes an already nasty bullpen even deadlier. Last year New York’s bullpen was the reason it was able to smother the best team in baseball (the Cleveland Indians) and almost knock of the eventual World Series champs. Aaron Boone can now go with any combination of Aroldis Chapman and Zach Britton in the last two innings of a game, and that’s after being able to pull his starter after five innings if needed. That’ll come in handy both because the Yankees starting rotation has been a weak spot this year, but also if he needs to preserve an arm in a playoff series.

There’s no hating this deal for New York. Brian Cashman had capital in young players to spend and didn’t have to give up one of his top guys to make this deal happen. Trading away Tate hurts in that he could have maybe been part of the rotation of the future, but this is a trade to win a World Series this year and it makes New York a hard out in October.

Grade: A+

Baltimore Orioles

Trading away a big piece of a team that should have been better than it was is always hard. Britton was a stud closer, but Baltimore is in the process of blowing up it’s roster and rebuilding. Getting five prospects for Manny Machado was a start, and Yunisel Diaz and Dillon Tate are big time gets for a team looking to find a new foundation.

Diaz came over in the Machado deal, so we won’t talk about him here. But his glove will be backing up an arm in Dillon that could be an ace for the Orioles down the road. He’s been in Triple-A this year so he’s nearly ready to be plucked for a Major League rotation. Baltimore isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, so Tate could be a late-season callup or be allowed to simmer longer in the minors before making his debut in 2019.

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Britton is an irreplaceable arm out of the pen, but he was wasting away on an Orioles team, not in a position to win. His final act for the team was to net them a potential ace, and that’s hard to hate. Coming over with Tate is Josh Rogers, who could be a nice compliment at the back of the rotation. Cody Carroll was having an All-Star year out of the bullpen in Triple-A and while he won’t replace Britton, could go a long way in soothing the pain of his absence.

Grade: B