Yankees trade rumors: Phillies reportedly asked for Aaron Judge or Luis Severino for Marlon Byrd

After the trade deadline, I always like hearing about what trades could have happened. Sometimes they're interesting and sometimes they're just absolutely hilarious. This one falls under the latter:

Was told today #Phillies wanted either Aaron Judge or Luis Severino for Marlon Byrd. #Yankees fans should be glad that didn't happen.

— Dan Pfeiffer (@danpfeiffer74) August 1, 2014

Laaaaaawd that would have been a bad trade. Byrd is almost 37 and has another year on his contract, maybe even two, if a vesting option actually vests. Ruben Amaro was criticized for not trading off anyone and the Phillies GM decided to lay the blame on everyone else but himself:

Amaro said Phillies did not ask for "top prospects." Criticized other GMs for not being aggressive enough.

— Matt Gelb (@MattGelb) July 31, 2014

So either 29 teams don't know how to make a trade or Ruben Amaro is a miserable excuse for a baseball executive. He claims he didn't ask for a lot in return, so either he doesn't know what a prospect is or he's lying. If this rumor is actually true, I think it basically proves that he doesn't know how to negotiate. Sure, you start off high, but then as you work on a deal, both parties need to reach a middle point. You don't demand the world for nothing in return and then never come down. That's insanity.

So not only did Brian Cashman get Brandon McCarthy, Chase Headley, Martin Prado, and Stephen Drew for mostly spare parts, he didn't trade away good prospects for old, expensive veterans. Sometimes you just gotta tip your cap to the better GM.