Brian Cashman, New York Yankees general manager, said in the beginning of the offseason that the Yankees were content with their roster, and would only attempt to settle a couple minor deals that would help the team complete its 2016 roster.
Cashman must have had an epiphany and recognized that the Yankees would not succeed in 2016 without major deals because this offseason has been a busy one for the Yankees. Cashman’s recent deals are opening the door to a world of possibilities.
The first serious move that Cashman made was acquiring center fielder Aaron Hicks from the Minnesota Twins.
The Yankees gave up backup catcher John Ryan Murphy to get Hicks. Though Hicks did not have the strongest year at the plate (only batting .256 with 11 home runs, and 33 RBIs), he brings an outfield presence that left fielder Brett Gardner is beginning to lose.
This trade may not have been one for the record books, but I believe that this acquisition will award the Yankees with enough depth that they can begin to assess the major issues with their pitching rotation.
The next move that the Yankees made was one that had been in the making for a while. Cashman traded RHP Adam Warren to the the Chicago Cubs for infielder Starlin Castro. It was the most impactful move that the Yankees have made in the past two seasons.
In Castro’s rookie season, he batted.300 and drove in 41 runs. He followed that up in his sophomore season, batting .307 with 66 RBI’s and 10 home runs. He had an off year in 2013, but came back strong over the next two seasons.
He batted a combined .278 with 25 homeruns, and 134 RBI’’s. Not only does Castro bring the Yankees an above average bat, his glove at second base will complete what should be a stellar infield for the Bombers.
The next move that Cashman made was a head scratcher for Yankee fans. In early December he traded their seventh-inning man, LHP Justin Wilson, to the Detroit Tigers for prospects Chad Green and Luis Cessa.
This move did not make sense because in 2015 the Yankee bullpen had been their strong suit. The combination of Wilson, Dellin Betances and Andrew Miller made the Yankees a challenging team to beat if they were ahead by the 7th inning.
So why would Cashman trade away such a significant piece to the Yankees success for so little in return? This was the question that many Yankee fans were wondering. Why Cashman had pulled the trigger on this deal on this trade became clear with his next move.
This week, the Yankees made a trade with the Cincinnati Reds that may have solidified their bullpen as the best in baseball.
The Yankees traded four prospects: Caleb Cotham, Rookie Davis, Eric Jagielo and Tony Renda all to the Reds for one man, the flame-throwing Aroldis Chapman.
The former Red has been tagged as the hardest throwing pitcher in baseball.
During a regular season game in 2011, Chapman threw a pitch the was unofficially clocked at 105 miles per hour.
Another interesting stat about Chapman’s velocity would be that the fastest 77 pitches thrown all of the 2015 season were thrown by him.
That’s right. On 77 wind ups, Chapman threw the fastest pitch in baseball. Even though his velocity was a significant piece in making this deal, Chapman also strikes out virtually all of his competition.
In 2014, Chapman averaged 17.54 K/9. What this means is that if Chapman were to pitch all nine innings, which he wouldn’t because he is a closer, he would strike out about 17 batters per game, which is an MLB record.
Think about it like this: if there are 27 outs in a game, Chapman would get more than 58 percent of his outs via strikeouts, by far making him the most electrifying closer in baseball.
With this deal, the earlier trade of Wilson to the Tigers makes more sense.
These off-season maneuvers once again prove Cashman’s worth.