Cashman should have mined Cole

Second-guessing Brian Cashman has gone the way of baggy basketball shorts as the Yankees GM has made all the right moves the last few years. But I can’t resist throwing one out there because I believed it at the time:

I think he should have made the trade for Gerrit Cole.

For while Giancarlo Stanton grabbed the headlines for another five-strikeout game on Sunday, Jordan Montgomery’s inability to hold down the Orioles with a 5-0 lead was far more the big-picture concern.

Starting pitching depth was seen as the one area of potential vulnerability for these Yankees, and already it could be an issue, with CC Sabathia on the disabled list due to a sore hip and Montgomery coming off a rough start. Meanwhile, Cole has thrown a couple of gems in his first two starts with the Astros, allowing one run in 14 innings while racking up 22 strikeouts, looking like the No. 1 starter many baseball people believed he could be again when he was being shopped last winter.

So, yes, it’s an easy second-guess right now. Cashman might turn out to be right in the long run for holding tight to his prospects, especially if someone like Justus Sheffield develops into a valued starter. Or the Yankee GM might acquire a proven starter in July for less than he would have had to give up for Cole.

But as the Yankees head into Fenway Park for their first showdown with the Red Sox, they would look a little more formidable with Cole in their starting rotation right now.

I still believe they are equipped to outplay the Red Sox over 162 games and win the AL East as they’re going to score a ton of runs, no matter how lost Stanton currently looks at the plate.

For the moment, though, the Sox have taken advantage of a gift from the schedule-maker, opening the season with nine games against the Rays and Marlins, and their 8-1 start surely has helped build a confident vibe.

Perhaps most significantly, David Price has come flying out of the gate, looking like an ace again in pitching 14 scoreless innings in his first two starts. Again, both were against the weak-hitting Rays, but it’s exactly what Price needed after all of his issues last season. The Sox will throw Chris Sale and then Price in the first two games this week, which should be quite the test for Stanton, coming off his 16-strikeout homestand that has him leading the majors with 20 Ks, two more than the Orioles’ Tim Beckham.

The Yankees will match up with their best starters, Luis Severino and Masahiro Tanaka, and then they’ll probably move Sonny Gray up a day rather than rely on Domingo German in Sabathia’s spot in the rotation.

That’s a strong 1-2-3 at the top of the rotation, depending on whether Gray lives up to the belief Cashman had in him last July, when he gave up three top prospects, Dustin Fowler, James Kaprielian and Jorge Mateo in the trade with the A’s.

Yet the question is more about depth for the Yankees. A sore hip for Sabathia has to be worrisome, at his age and size, after he’s dealt with knee problems in recent years, and the jury is out on whether Montgomery will develop into more than a No. 5-type starter.

In addition, top prospect Chance Adams’ stock seems to have fallen a bit after a poor spring training as well as questions about a dip in his fastball velocity, and Sheffield didn’t impress in the spring as the Yankees had hoped, either.

The organization still has a lot of young pitching in the minors that scouts regard highly, and German, who did have a strong spring, has intriguing potential that will be put to the test now, either out of the pen or filling in for Sabathia. But if Cole was in pinstripes he sure would ease concerns about depth.

As expected, it seems the ex-Pirate has benefited from going to an analytics-heavy organization like the Astros, who have gotten him to rely less on his fastball while utilizing his off-speed stuff more in his first two starts.

When I asked him about it in spring training, the GM refuted reports that emerged during the winter saying the Yankees got close to a deal. “We never got close on that,” Cashman said.

There’s not much doubt he was willing to include Clint Frazier, but in addition the Pirates wanted more than Nick Solak, the second baseman subsequently included in the trade for Brandon Drury, and Cashman drew the line on how much higher he’d go up his prospect list.

Again, he might be proven right in the long run. At the moment, Cole looks like he would have been well worth the cost.