By the end of spring training, Yankees’ owner Hal Steinbrenner was confident in his team’s ability to compete for a division crown this season. So far, his instincts have been right.
But just because the Yankees’ youth movement is running ahead of schedule, doesn’t mean that Steinbrenner is inclined to push all of his chips forward at the trade deadline.
“We’re going to leave no stone unturned,” Steinbrenner told WFAN’s Mike Francesa on Thursday. “We’re going to look at anything that comes our way. Any possibility that comes our way, if it fills a need that we certainly have, we’re going to consider it. But I have been hesitant the last few years to give up our top prospects. Everybody knows that. And here we are because of it, one of the reasons anyway.
“So it’s going to have to be the right deal, it’s going to have to be a glaring need, and it’s going to have to be the right fit for that need to consider it.”
While the Yankees haven’t publicly announced a list of prospects they deem untouchable in a deal, it’s fair to assume that outfielders Clint Frazier and Blake Rutherford belong in that category, as well as top prospect Gleyber Torres, who recently underwent season-ending elbow surgery. But New York has an influx of positional talent in their system, and names like Dustin Fowler, Tyler Wade, Jorge Mateo and Miguel Andujar could be potential trade candidates this July.
“We have good Single-A teams, (a good) Double-A team, (Triple-A) Scranton’s got a great team,” Steinbrenner said. “Chance Adams and Frazier and Fowler, they’re all doing great this year. Tyler Wade. … So we’ll see. We’ve got a lot of good years ahead, we believe.”
The interview between Steinbrenner and Francesa can be accessed here.
