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The Yankees just wrapped up a pretty eventful trade deadline. This year, Brian Cashman had one of the most active trade deadlines he has had in recent memory and it was probably the most un-Yankeelike deadline he ever had. For the first time in decades the Yankees found themselves as sellers instead of buyers.
After decades of being relevant and competing, the 2016 Yankees were the combo breaker that finally ended that streak. While it is disappointing that the Yankees are not contenders and have pretty much accepted that (even if they may not admit it per se), it's actually potentially a good thing. For years, Yankee fans have seen and complained about not having exciting young talent in the minor leagues that could become franchise players. After Hal Steinbrenner set him loose, Cashman went to work this trade deadline and that can no longer be said.
Entering the system, the Yankees weren't considered to have a top 10 spot as far as organizational farm systems were concerned. Now, however, their system could be considered the best in the league. So what exactly happened that prompted this sudden shift in the farm system's ranking? Mainly, this year's major league squad was awful. They could still maybe turn it around (though it's difficult to see how) and end up being an average team, but there's no mistaking they had been mediocre at best leading up to the deadline. And that mediocrity led to the Yankees selling off their best pieces and taking a look at the future.
Caitlin has a full recap of the Yankees' moves from the trade deadline but here's a quick refresher of the moves the Yankees made:
The @Yankees have acquired RHP Adam Warren, SS Gleyber Torres and OFs Billy McKinney & Rashad Crawford from @Cubs for Chapman #WelcometoNYY
— Yankees PR Dept. (@YankeesPR) July 25, 2016
Today @yankees acquire OF Clint Frazier, LHP Justus Sheffield and RHPs Ben Heller and J.P. Feyereisen from Cleveland for LHP Andrew Miller.
— Yankees PR Dept. (@YankeesPR) July 31, 2016
Today the @Yankees announced they have acquired RH reliever Tyler Clippard from Arizona in exchange for minor league RHP Vicente Campos.
— Yankees PR Dept. (@YankeesPR) July 31, 2016
The @yankees have acquired RHPs Dillon Tate, Erik Swanson and Nick Green from Texas in exchange for OF Carlos Beltran
— Yankees PR Dept. (@YankeesPR) August 1, 2016
The @Yankees have traded RHP Ivan Nova to the Pirates in exchange for two players to be named later.
— Yankees PR Dept. (@YankeesPR) August 1, 2016
While the players to be named later in the Nova trade have yet to be named, and Cashman did make one "buying" move in acquiring Tyler Clippard from the Diamondbacks, the Aroldis Chapman, Andrew Miller, and Carlos Beltran trades are the really telling ones.
As a result of those trades, the Yankees boosted their top-100 prospects up to seven and that could have possibly been eight if Dillon Tate wasn't having a forgettable season. It has been a while since Yankees fans had a chance to truly be excited about the system as a whole, but now that dream is a reality. Obviously prospects bust all the time, so there won't be any telling who "won the trades" for a few years, but the general consensus on all three trades is that the Yankees came out on top. And it's very easy to see why.
It's unfortunate that the Yankees couldn't truly contend with Andrew Miller on the team and likely wouldn't for the remainder of his contract. With that in mind, his best value to the team was what Cashman got in return for him. The present is bleak, but the future is bright.
There is in-depth coverage of all the moves the Yankees made in Pinstripe Alley's trade deadline coverage hub but now it is time to hear from you. How do you feel about the deadline deals the Yankees made? Are you excited for the future or would you have liked to see them try and go for it this year?