If you need yet another reason why the Yankees are going for it, then know that before Sunday night’s game at Fenway Park, Aaron Judge had a 213 OPS-plus and Juan Soto was at 187.
That is one player with an OPS 113 percent better than average factoring in league and park and another 87 percent better.
If you are curious how often teams have had two players at 180 or higher in the Live Ball Era (since 1920), it is: Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig for the 1927, ’28, ’30, ’31 and ’32 Yankees. End of list.
The Yankees won the World Series in 1927, ’28 and ’32 via sweeps and only missed the postseason in ’30 and ’31 because there were no wild cards and there were the Philadelphia Athletics — one of the greatest teams ever — in their way.
There are no Philadelphia Athletics in the AL this year, but the Yanks have something that looks like Ruth and Gehrig. Plus Judge is 32. And Soto is a looming free agent. They might not be Gehrig and Ruth together again. So the Yankees have decided to try to seize this moment by shunning a bad six weeks and using three prospects Saturday to land Jazz Chisholm Jr.
In their best scenario, they still add two relievers and another versatile player like St. Louis’ Tommy Edman (who the Dodgers love too) to fortify for the stretch and postseason. However, their prospect base is not the deepest, and is now diminished more after the Chisholm deal and prices are high.
Let’s begin with the high price for relievers: Many executives gasped at the quality of prospects the Phillies surrendered to the Angels for Carlos Estevez, who is a free agent after this season, and the Padres moved to the Rays in exchange for Jason Adam, who has two more seasons of team control. One talent evaluator said: “It’s kind of complicated the pen market.”
If, for example, the Yankees want to add a controllable lefty like Miami’s Andrew Nardi or righty like Oakland’s Lucas Erceg, or go for a walk-year item like Marlins closer Tanner Scott, then the costs are being established as high.
And the Yankees have traded lots of prospect collateral, notably pitching, in the last four years. They have endured a lot of injuries and regressions to key prospects this season. And for Chisholm, they included in catcher Agustin Ramirez and infielder Jared Serna, two of their better secondary prospects that interested sellers, talent evaluators say. That leaves less of those types that help finish deals.
It also creates this dilemma. The evaluators say the Yanks have basically removed Jasson Dominguez from discussions. That leaves their first-round picks from 2022 (outfielder Spencer Jones) and 2023 (shortstop George Lombard Jr.) as the top-line prospects to get something significant. The Yanks have indicated a willingness to include one for a difference-maker, but there are not many high-end talents available, and there are lots of buyers.
So a word you hear a lot about what the Yanks may have to do is get “creative,” and within that the name Ben Rice has come up quite a bit. The Yanks do not want to move Jones, Lombard or Rice, but they also don’t want to waste seasons that are heir to Gehrig/Ruth. So if, for example, there were quiet inquiries on someone not currently perceived as available such as Toronto first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr., then it is going to take a lot of Yankee pain and creativity to get it done.
It is possible that, with Dominguez a soon potential call-up, the Yanks could include an outfielder — Trent Grisham or Alex Verdugo — to try to spice up a trade or maybe even Gleyber Torres with Chisholm sliding in at second. But Rice is intriguing because he has six years of control and untapped upside.
Remember that in 2003, when Brandon Claussen was promoted and made a tremendous spot start (6 ¹/₃ innings, one run) in the Subway Series, the fan base believed they had a homegrown starter about to break out, and a month later he was traded for Aaron Boone. Those Yankees were going for it, and so are these.
Rice has a good feel for the strike zone, easy lefty power, is a smart kid from a terrific college (Dartmouth) and had instant MLB impact — the exact portfolio of Kevin Maas (Cal), whose lack of defensive proficiency and quick-twitch adaptation meant his impact did not last long. Is Rice similar? Maas is part of a Yankee legacy of youngsters who had sensational early results only to not sustain it, including Shane Spencer, Shelley Duncan, Greg Bird and Miguel Andujar.
Is Rice in that category? What differentiates Rice from Maas is that he is not a pure pull hitter, showing good all-field power, plus the Yankees believe that he will catch in the majors.
Again, the Yanks don’t want to trade him. Or Jones. Or Lombard. Or Will Warren. Or … you get the idea. But they want to capitalize on the moment, notably having a duo as dynamic as Soto/Judge. Thus, Brian Cashman is going to execute more trades to try to upgrade the roster. And it will be fascinating how, um, creative he gets.
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