While it may take the Yankees three more weeks to officially declare themselves as either buyers or sellers during the non-waiver trade deadline, general manager Brian Cashman is preparing for all scenarios.
Not only does this include New York expressing interest in acquiring starting pitching, but also fielding offers for top commodities, such as Aroldis Chapman and Andrew Miller, and according to ESPN Insider Buster Olney, the Yankees are beginning to do just that:
Executives with other teams say they haven’t been told specifically by the Yankees that New York will execute a sell-off before the Aug. 1 trade deadline. Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner has not exactly climbed a mountain and shouted his intentions.
But rival evaluators say the Yankees are taking offers for Andrew Miller, Aroldis Chapman and other players right now, setting up the team to execute trades quickly whenever the club’s leadership decides to refocus the organization’s efforts to 2017.
In order to avoid stressful phone calls and chaotic arrangements in late July, it appears as if the Yankees are looking to organize potential trades promptly, whether or not these deals come to fruition with other clubs.
Of course, Cashman’s job would become easier if the Yankees’ performance on the field vastly improves in the upcoming weeks, but the phone lines are open right now, and in Tuesday’s edition of ESPN’s Baseball Tonight podcast with Olney, Cashman said that it’s his duty to take any offers to his superiors:
I’m going to do my job and that’s to engage all clubs and see what’s available in the market place and I think the best way to diplomatically answer that at this date is, like this winter, if it’s something that makes sense for us in the short or long term, we’ll decipher it, go through it, and I’ve certainly encouraged all clubs that have any interest in players, if they want to make some offers and stuff like that that they want me to consider and maybe ownership to consider, I’ll take it to ownership and it’s my obligation to do so.
It doesn’t mean we’re in sell mode, but it certainly means that we’re open to everything and anything just like we were last winter.
On SportsCenter Tuesday morning, Olney also mentioned that names such as Carlos Beltran, Brian McCann, CC Sabathia, Brett Gardner, and Ivan Nova are reportedly available, according to rival executives.
You can listen to the entire Baseball Tonight podcast here, with Cashman’s interview beginning at the 28:00 minute mark.
