Yankees: Here We Go Again – Cashman has Deivi Garcia On The Block

The Yankees and Brian Cashman keep shooting themselves in the same foot. When in doubt, the mantra goes, trade away your best pitchers.

The Yankees are gonna do it again.

According to a report by Mike Rosenstein of NJ.com and published by MLB.com, Brian Cashman has no qualms about trading away the Yankees’ Number 3 Prospect, and the Yankees’ Number 1 Pitching Prospect, according to MLB Pipeline, Deivi Garcia.

From the same report, general manager Brian Cashman said that many teams inquired about his availability.

Presumably starving for power left-handed bats and with a decapitated farm system of position players, together with having a bunch of high-salaried players no team would touch, Cashman figures he has nowhere to go except the well he always drinks from – Yankees pitching depth.

Yankees Cashman Has Done This Before

The litany of pitchers traded by Cashman who are major contributors to their current teams is quite long, so here are just a few…

James Kaprielian (2-1 3.08 ERA over five starts) has rid himself of injuries and is now a member of the Oakland A’s starting rotation after his inclusion in the Sonny Gray trade.

Michael Pineda, who the Yankees released as a free agent, went 11-5 in his first season with the Minnesota Twins, and this year is 3-3, 3.40 for a team that will not escape the bottom of the AL Central.

Justus Sheffield, who very much reminds me of Deivi Garcia at that point in his career with the Yankees, is now a regular starting rotation of the upstart Seattle Mariners and has made 10 starts already with a 5-4, 4.77 ERA.

Or, how about Ivan Nova, who was given up by Cashman in a trade at the 2016 deadline with the Pittsburgh Pirates in return for Tito Polo and Stephen Tarpley – I know, who?

Since then, Nova has made 31, 29, and a league-leading 34 starts in the majors and has a career record of 90-79 with a pretty good American League ERA of 4.08.

Yankees: A Scouting Report On Garcia

Here’s one scout’s evaluation of Deivi Garcia, age 20:

“Garcia’s fastball/curveball combo makes him a very intriguing prospect. Though not the prettiest pitcher on the mound in terms of delivery, he repeats his delivery very well. That consistency is what prompted the Yankees to continue moving him swiftly through the minor league chain. (my emphasis) Garcia is also able to throw his slider for strikes, giving him four total pitches in his arsenal.”

Garcia will not be the next Sandy Koufax, but he could become a version of former Yankees’ legend, Andy Pettitte.

Yankees’ Cashman In The Panic Room

No, this is a panic move by Cashman, only because he knows he has to “do something” or risk being tarred and feathered by Yankees fans on Columbus Circle at high noon.

Cashman’s hands are tied by Hal Steinbrenner’s insistence on not exceeding the $210 million payroll threshold before the luxury tax kicks in, and I’m sorry, but that’s just desserts for the team Cashman has built and the one we live with now.

The Yankees have no assurances that Luis Severino will return to be as good as he was or that Corey Kluber will ever pitch again with the dominance he had this year, with 1.496 regular season innings under his belt already.

Singing That Same Old Song, With A Different Beat…

So, all you need to worry about is the wrath of Yankees fans when you expose yourself as a man with old worn-out answers to new problems.

We’re patient, but we’re not stupid, and we know a red-herring when we see one…

Here’s what Readers Are Saying…

Stu Cohen He will be wasted in a Yankee uniform. Trade him for some piece of shit over the hill bum and he’ll win a Cy Young and a ring.

Kenneth Schultz Do you want them to get players to hit the ball or do you not? If you want them to trade to win now you have to be willing to give something up. And that means prospects. Yankees’ pitching is strong and they’re hitting is week. Other teams are not going to give up their treasure for your trash. Either try to win with the team you have now or be prepared to lose someone you might want in a year or two. That’s baseball.

Dave Rosenthal Enough with trading away the kids in the system, start developing these kids, and let them play with the big boys. You CAN win with a low payroll and good young players…SEE TB. Even Toronto is improving with kids from their system, Vlad Jr. Bichette, Biggio

Ricky Revere Like most “top prospects” they don’t pan out. So calling Garcia your best pitcher is a huge stretch of the imagination. Proven commodities are what you can generally count on.

Anthony Whiteman Kenneth Schultz as long we don’t send him to Texas for Joey Gallo. That’s all we need is a lefty hitter that is all or nothing as well.

Reddy Martinez If they can get a left-handed bat, go for it! Except for the first couple of starts last year, I don’t think he’s all that. He got hit pretty good from what I remember his last couple of starts. He’s too small, I question the durability. The article mentions Sheffield from Seattle, he’s got a very high ERA. James Kaprielian from the A’s is 6’3” tall. Bigger and stronger with a long stride. Ivan Nova has been a serviceable major leaguer.

Steven Kenworthy He’s not trading DJ LeMahieu, Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, Aaron Hicks, Luke Voit, Gio Urshela, or Gary Sánchez. He should consider, Torres, Frazier, and yes maybe Garcia. But, he won’t. Because he still believes or tells everyone he believes the Yanks are still in it. I want to believe that, but I can’t. Author’s Note: Gary Sanchez – really?

Dusty Hayden Trading away Deivi would be a disappointment at this stage in his career I will give you that however, the others listed in this article made plenty of sense. Sonny Gray was a perfect trade, unfortunately never could get it right in the Bronx and according to him was more pitch calling for the Yankee staff than his approach.

Sheffeld has never come into form like we all thought he would and would have been beat up in the AL East considering he hasn’t faired that well in the West. Nova and Pineda had moments of greatness but more moments of a bust and proved they couldn’t pitch in the East and more importantly the second half of the season.

You’re correct in saying that Cashman has been put in a position to do something unfortunately we need pitching as bad as offense currently. The 2020-2021 winter was high risk, high reward however that risk has turned into failure.

Cornelius Brad HannaYankees need to win now. Go get a big bat.

Bob Pugliese

Teddy Martinez I agree 100% especially if he is an outfielder, center fielder. None of the pitching prospects Cashman traded or dumped really worked out. Several were adequate but no great ones.

Matt Wain We put out our best team in 2017 by playing all our youngings to see who had the goods. The best guys played, and we won games. So Cashman sees the success of that formula and instantly changes it by trading future chips away and overpaying low batting avg, home run or bust has beens. A moronic formula that the fool swears by. Play the young kids and see who excels!

Bruce Chester Depends on the return this kid has done nothing to prove he is big-league material. If they can get a decent hitting CF then I say go for it

Author’s Postscript Following Up On Comments

Results are mixed as you can see but I’m going to stick with the notion that you don’t give up on a 20-year-old kid that you’ve nursed through your system.

Garcia is not major-league ready and that’s why he pitching at Triple-A.

I get that Cashman needs to find a left-handed bat not named Joey Gallo (readers say), but he gets paid the big bucks to figure out another way…

Regretfully, I’m closing off published comments for this post. Keep ‘em coming though – after all – that’s what this is all about.

For More Yankees 2021 Themed Stories
Link To Main Page Here

And Thank You For Sharing –
Steve Contursi – Story Teller