Cashman vows he won’t make a panic trade
BOSTON — If nothing else, the past week has reinforced the Yankees’ need for starting-pitching help, as each of their starters has been smacked around over the last turn of the rotation.
General manager Brian Cashman acknowledged Friday the Yankees have hit “a bad stretch,” but added it wouldn’t force him into making any moves prior to Wednesday’s trade deadline, though he would like to.
“We’ve entered this process and the deadline with a pretty good feel of what we’d like to do, what we’re willing to pay for it and also having the built-in discipline of walking away if we don’t find the right matches under those circumstances,’’ Cashman said before James Paxton added to the Yankees’ pitching issues in a 10-5 loss at Fenway Park. “That’s regardless of what’s happened in the last week.’’
The Yankees still have a comfortable 8 ¹/2-game lead in the AL East, which gives Cashman and the organization the ability to not force a trade. They remain, nevertheless, open to talks with almost every team — including the Mets.
“I’m fully engaged with every team except the Boston Red Sox,’’ Cashman said when asked whether he had any restrictions about dealing with the Mets. “That’s about it.”
Either Zack Wheeler or Noah Syndergaard would give the Yankees’ rotation a boost, and the teams have scouted each other, but there remains skepticism about whether the Mets would make a significant trade with their crosstown rivals, especially when it could help Cashman’s club in the postseason.
The Blue Jays’ Marcus Stroman, the Tigers’ Matthew Boyd and the Rangers’ Mike Minor are among the other candidates the Yankees could land, or they could turn to bullpen help if the asking price for quality starting pitching is deemed too steep.
“I’d certainly like to reinforce our club and add to it if possible,’’ Cashman said.
As of Friday, no matches had been found.
“I wouldn’t say anybody’s untouchable,’’ Cashman said. “Are you talking about minor league prospects? No. I’d say some are just more realistic than others.”
One of the organization’s top prospects, 20-year-old Deivi Garcia, made his third start for Triple-A Scranton/ Wilkes-Barre on Friday night and gave up four runs in six innings in a loss to Louisville. He would not be surrendered for a rental.
“We fully expect a number of teams competing for a postseason berth to do everything in their power to improve,’’ Cashman said.
And if nothing changes by Wednesday, Cashman said he’d be OK with that.
“Our fallback is to maintain what we currently have on the active roster and hopefully we finish off rehabs well with [Luis Severino] and [Dellin] Betances and [Jonathan] Loaisiga and utilize the system we have to augment in September and beyond,’’ he said.
Severino would be a significant addition to the rotation, if there’s enough time to get him built up as a starter. That could depend on whether the Yankees are able to stay far ahead in the division.
“We’re gonna continue to look, whether it’s pen or rotation,’’ Cashman said. “And if we can, great. And if we can’t, then we’ll go with what we’ve got.”