UNHAPPY RETURNS
Trade deadline blunders have left Yanks, Mets on playoff life support
Some five weeks after the baseball trade deadline — which they both entered into as buyers — the Yankees and Mets now find themselves engaged in the Subway Series to Nowhere, their best laid plans having gone awry and a cold, empty October is beckoning.
So how did it come to this? In the Yankees’ case, it would seem the first four months of the season were not an anomaly after all. They really were a plodding, fatally flawed team that struck out too much, hit into too many double plays, was way too vulnerable to off-speed pitching, didn’t run well on the bases and was too often prone to costly defense at the two most important positions on the field (shortstop and catcher). Brian Cashman sought to rectify some of this with his trades for the lefty bats, Anthony Rizzo and Joey Gallo ,at the deadline, to at least provide more balance to the lineup. But while Rizzo has shown to be a solid addition with his more disciplined approach at the plate, superior defense at first base and quiet leadership, Gallo, save for an occasional homer, has been a miserable flop in New York (.133, 64 strikeouts in 159 plate appearances as of Friday). And neither was particularly instrumental in the Yankees’ 13-game winning streak from Aug. 14-27 that seemingly had turned their season around. It’s clear that the career windmill Gallo was not the answer — nor was Andrew Heaney, the lefty that Cashman brought in from the Angels to provide depth to the starting rotation, who toted a 7.71 ERA in nine games (5 starts) as a Yankee into the Subway Series.
That 13-game stretch was an anomaly and the winning streak came to a screeching halt after Gleyber Torres came back to reclaim shortstop from the effervescent, defensively elite Andrew Velazquez and Gio Urshela was brought back too soon at third base. Tyler Wade, who had provided so much energy and speed on the bases during the streak, and Rougned Odor, went back to the bench. That, in a nutshell, is what happened to the Yankees, and whether it was the analytics department that called those shots or Aaron Boone, the fact remains it was no time for loyalty when things had finally been going so well. Throw in the untimely injury losses to the pitching staff, in particular Jonathan Loaisiga, and you could kiss the Yankee season goodbye.
As for the Mets, with Jacob deGrom uncertain to return any time soon — if ever in 2021 — they knew they had to get a starting pitcher at the deadline and instead acquired the strikeout-prone rental second baseman Javy Baez. They made a pitch for the Twins’ Jose Berrios, but balked at giving up Dominic Smith, a major disappointment this year, and their top prospect shortstop Ronny Mauricio (who the last time we looked Francisco Lindor will be playing that position for them the next 10 years).
The Blue Jays, on the other hand, had no qualms about giving up their No. 1 prospect, Austin Martin, the fifth overall pick in the 2020 draft, plus top pitching prospect Simeon Woods Richardson, for Berrios. With the emergence of 2019 No. 1 draft pick Alek Manoah and the breakthough Cy Young-caliber season by Robbie Ray (Friday night’s letdown against the Orioles notwithstanding), Berrios may actually be their No. 3 starter. Indeed, if the Blue Jays are able to complete their late surge to the postseason after having to play the first three-quarters of the season on the road in Dunedin, Fla., and Buffalo, much of the credit has to go to their GM Ross Atkins and his aggressiveness at the trade deadline. In addition to his deal for Berrios, Atkins shored up another major area of need — set-up relief — with his trades for righties Trevor Richards from Milwaukee and Adam Cimber from the Marlins, both of whom have so far been outstanding. And along with Cimber, Atkins got the veteran Corey Dickerson, who has filled in nicely in the outfield while George Springer has been recovering from an ankle injury.
And at the same time the Mets were striking out on their biggest need at the trade deadline, their principal rivals, the Braves, were refusing to give up on a season in which they did not even climb over .500 until Aug. 5. By that time, their best player, Ronald Acuna Jr., had been lost for the year with a torn ACL, their primary offseason signing, Marcell Ozuna, had been suspended indefinitely after being arrested for assault, and their catcher Travis d’Arnaud and No. 2 starting pitcher Ian Anderson were sidelined indefinitely with injuries.
But much like his counterpart, Atkins, in Toronto, Braves GM Alex Anthopoulos, instead of deciding to just wait until next year, went on an aggressive trading spree at the deadline to demonstrate to his players that the front office still had their backs. With two gaping holes in the outfield from the losses of Acuna and Ozuna, Atkins got out in front of the Cubs’ fire sale and acquired the lefty-hitting Joc Pederson, then later added righty-swingers Adam Duvall from the Marlins and Jorge Soler from the Royals — all for middle-of-the-road prospects. Combined, the three have accounted for 27 homers and 68 RBI since August.
What has become clear these last couple of weeks is that neither the Yankees nor the Mets were going to the World Series this year, and they both have a lot of work to do this winter if they’re to make themselves into legitimate “deep-into-the-postseason” teams. Just who will be the persons in charge of those tasks, however, remains the question. Hal Steinbrenner, after giving him everything he needed, has to decide if Cashman — who has failed to deliver a World Series since 2009 despite having at or near the highest payrolls in baseball — is still the man he wants as the Yankees’ top procurer of talent. And Steve Cohen, after having to jettison two personally-flawed rookie GMs in his first year as Mets owner, has to know he needs to hire an established, accomplished baseball ops chief this time. Assuming he asks, I suspect Sandy Alderson would tell him he couldn’t go wrong with the onetime No. 1 Mets draft choice,