BROOMS TO BUST
WITH CHANCE TO SWEEP, YANKS GET FLATTENED
EXECUTIVES who know well both Brian Cashman and Oakland VP of baseball operations Billy Beane describe them as executives who will not blink at the deadline if the Sonny Gray negotiations do not follow their preferred path.
“I don’t think this is like when George [Steinbrenner] was in charge,” one AL official said. “I think Cash has a [prospect] price in his mind that he is willing to give up [for Gray], and even if you told him [Gray] was going to Boston, I don’t think he would flinch.”
Another AL executive said this about Beane: “I think Billy is perfectly willing to go into the winter holding onto Sonny if he doesn’t get what he wants.”
So is this posturing as the 4 p.m. Monday trade deadline nears or rigidity that is not going to be broken by the ticking clock? Whatever the reality, there was less optimism being expressed Sunday afternoon that a deal would be completed between the A’s and Yankees than 24 hours earlier, when some involved called it “inevitable” Gray would end up in The Bronx.
No one has to show his true intentions until Monday afternoon, and the Yankees remain the favorite if Gray is indeed traded. But there was said not to be much dialogue between the teams with roughly 24 hours to go to do it or not to do it.
Perhaps, that is because each side knows the other’s position, and there is no sense continuing to talk without one or the other relenting further.
The Yankees have never been willing to discuss their elite prospects such as Gleyber Torres and Clint Frazier. But executives who speak with Cashman say he has been reticent to discuss the next level down also, especially putting multiple pieces from that group into one deal.
Cashman believes the Yankees are just beginning to see the fruits of their feeder system and thinks plenty of more young, talented, costcontrolled players will be arriving in the next few years to keep the Yanks from having to delve often into the expensive free-agency bin, as had been the history under Steinbrenner.
Meanwhile, Beane and the A’s feel they have the most desirable commodity in this market: a young, high-end starter who is not a free agent until after the 2019 campaign. So while he has agreed that Torres and Frazier are off limits, Beane believes the Yankees should be more willing to cede multiple items from the next tier of prospects.
Both sides run risks if they remain ingrained in their current thinking and the divide is not bridged.
The Yankees privately felt a serial run of excellence would not begin until next season or even 2019. But many of their youngsters have played better than expected while the Red Sox have not, and there is opportunity in 2017 to do something special. And that would be made more feasible with a top-of-the-rotation starter. Jaime Garcia, whom the Yankees obtained Sunday, helps the back end of the rotation, not the front.
But the Yanks have been hesi- tant to overbid for Gray not only because they are reluctant to surrender top prospects, but also because Gray comes with injury concerns, plus they are not sure if any other suitor is even as serious as them. The Astros, Braves, Brewers, Dodgers and perhaps Cubs also have been viewed as vying for Gray. However, for the top of the rotation, it is essentially Gray or bust because the Yankees have shown almost no interest in Texas’ Yu Darvish because he is a rental (free agent after this year) or Detroit’s Justin Verlander because he is too expensive in 2018-19 ($56 million owed).
For the A’s, though, it would be tough to walk away from what could be Gray’s peak value. He is available for three pennant races now, rather than two if traded in the offseason. He would have to make about a dozen more starts to even get to the offseason, and Gray has spent time on the DL in both 2016 and ’17. In the offseason, teams could just buy free-agent starters rather than give up prospects for Gray. And Gray has a 1.37 ERA in his last six starts.
Of course, all of that is what makes him so appealing to the Yankees. But is that appealing enough for Cashman to go further than he has so far?
For now, both teams are in a Gray area. Clarity of their true intentions arrives no later than 4 p.m. Monday.