FanPost

Let's Play a Game

The Yankees are going to make a trade by August 1st. They always do, Brian Cashman always does. Over the past ten seasons, the Yankees made in season trades in every year except one, 2011. However, looking at each individual trade the Yankees rarely acquired a player with a high price tag in season. (With the possible exception of Bobby Abreu back in 2006.) Applying these past trends to today, can help us look at who Cashman may be targeting this summer.

The main concern for the Yankees (aside from the atrocities that Stephen Drew has committed with his bat) currently is pitching, and more critically starting pitching. The Yanks starting pitching, one year removed from being one of the core strengths of the team, is now hindering the Yankees chances at a postseason run. Yankees starters have a combined 4.21 ERA this season, putting them in the bottom 1/3rd of all teams. Not only is this a problem now, but once the playoffs roll around this problem can compound and stunt a deep playoff run.

The main trade targets that have been connected to the Yankees are all high cost players such as Scott Kazmir, Johnny Cueto, and the main enchilada Cole Hamels. However, judging by the trade tendencies of the Yankees these three seem highly unlikely to acquire. Simply because, they're really good. Now this may seem confusing, but shouldn't the Yankees want good players? Obviously the answer is yes, but the trade value for players who are already good is way higher than the price the Yanks usually like to pay.

Typically, in the spirit of Ninja Cash, like to find a bat or an arm who is underperforming and try and find lightning in a bottle. This has worked with varying degrees of success from the good, Brandon McCarthy, the decent, Ichiro, to the downright ugly, Ivan Rodriguez. Keeping that in mind, Cashman is probably targeting some deep under the radar players.

One name that has made its name around the rumor mill quite a bit this summer, is one that the Yanks probably are keeping tabs on. Mike Leake doesn't look super glamorous at first glance. He sports a 4.39 ERA that is higher than the Yanks average ERA, however, his advanced stats provide a slight glimmer of hope. Leake's SIERA sits at 3.98, and his xFIP sits even lower at 3.72 hinting that he may just be suffering bad luck out on the mound. With his contract ending at the end of the year, he's a much cheaper rental than the Reds' ace in Johnny Cueto, and Leake could provide quality innings that won't shell the bullpen every fifth day, cough cough CC. Another small note on Leake, he has been throwing his fastball and his cutter faster than he ever has in his career this season at 91.0 MPH and 90.2 MPH respectively.

Another name the Yanks might look at is Jeremy Hellickson, he bears a lot of similarities to Brandon McCarthy. A Diamondback who has an ERA over 5 but good advanced stats, he has a 3.92 xFIP and a 3.91 SIERA.

And finally the Yanks might like Jesse Chavez. He is a under contract until next year, but Billy Beane has done weirder things (like trading an All Star slugger in his prime on a team friendly contract away).

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