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Yankees trade for Starlin Castro: Media reactions

The Yankees traded for a new second baseman! What did the media think of the move?

David Kohl-USA TODAY Sports

The Yankees' offseason seemingly got off to a slower start than last year's, but Brian Cashman finally put a trade together last night. Several weeks ago, rumors had circulated about the possibility of sending Starlin Castro to the Yankees, and Brett Gardner to the Cubs, but nothing came of that. Castro will be a Yankee after all though, after the Yankees agreed to send over Adam Warren along with Brendan Ryan as the player to be named later. Warren has been a reliable pitcher for the Yankees over the past few years, as he's been asked to work in a long relief role, and to bounce in and out of the rotation. He's always said that he prefers to be in the rotation, so maybe he can find that opportunity in Chicago. As for Ryan, it's no real loss. He was a decent defensive backup, but he spent half of the past two seasons on the disabled list for fluke injuries. We'll always have that time he gave himself a celebratory fist bump, though. Here's how Twitter reacted to the trade:

It was just a few days ago that Cashman said that the Yankees were more likely to make a trade or do nothing at all then they were to sign a free agent, and they seem to be sticking with that plan. Especially since they passed on the idea of signing Ben Zobrist.

The Cubs traded Castro specifically so that they could sign Zobrist. The Mets were also trying to sign Zobrist and they got the short end of the stick.

Sorry 'bout it, Mets.

Sounds similar to last year's trade for Didi Gregorius. Like Gregorius, Castro is young (just 25), so the Yankees presumably think they can work on his discipline at the plate. He's been up and down throughout his career, but he had a much better second half in 2015 after he moved from shortstop to second base.

So what does this trade mean for the Rob Refsnyder/Dustin Ackley platoon that could have been?

For whatever reason, the Yankees just don't want to give Refsnyder a shot. It sounds like Cashman attempted to trade for Castro back at the trade deadline, while they Yankees were actively playing Stephen Drew every single day. Refsnyder was called up and made his debut just before the All-Star game, then played in a handful of games before being sent back down to Triple-A. That means the Yankees failed to trade for Castro, then decided that the best option was to continue to play Drew instead of Refsnyder, and Drew was terrible. Drew was the starter until the roster expanded in September, which coincided with Drew's concussion. Ackley and Refsnyder did a fine job during the last few weeks of the season, but a platoon situation would not have been ideal. Now Ackley can take on a utility role since Ryan is gone too. Refsnyder will presumably start the season in Scranton unless Cashman can package him into another deal.

Maybe Cashman can sneak Nova in as the player to be named later in another deal!

A package of Brett Gardner and Andrew Miller should be able to net a solid starting pitcher. Now we just have to wait and see what Ninja Cashman will do next.