With the trade deadline just a day away, baseball teams are doing their best to make as many moves as possible. With pitchers headlining the players available, several big names have already been taken off the market leaving other teams scrambling. Johnny Cueto, Mat Latos and now Cole Hamels are all unavailable leaving the race for David Price heating up. Do the New York Yankees stand a chance?
According to Jon Heyman of CBS Sports, the Philadelphia Phillies have agreed to trade Hamels to the Texas Rangers ending two weeks of trade talk surrounding the pitcher. Following a no-hit performance over the weekend, the interest in Hamels was skyrocketing leaving the Phillies to sort through several offers. The Rangers won out thanks to their depth of prospects and now all eyes shift to Price at the deadline.
Heyman reported on Wednesday that the Yankees' offer for Hamels was rejected and now the team was shifting their interest to Price. Manager Joe Girardi was asked about the team's interest in the Detroit Tigers ace and he was predictably mum on the idea. General manager Brian Cashman stated that the Yankees had no plans on giving up top prospects for a pitcher which is likely what Detroit will want in return, so how big is their need for Price to get to the postseason?
The Yankees are one of four teams in the mix for Price so competition is high for the ace. Tigers general manager Dave Dombrowski told the media via NJ.com that Detroit was in full reboot mode so they want young assets to develop for the future. The Yankees have some options in shortstop Jorge Mateo and first basemen Greg Bird. Cashman might not like the idea of giving anyone up for a pitcher that might not re-sign in free agency.
The Yankees need Price. The team is dealing with a potentially injured Ivan Nova. CC Sabathia is lacking consistency that might only get worse as he gets old. Masahiro Tanaka is their best bet and even he struggled in his last start. The Yankees are also being linked to closers Craig Kimbrel and Aroldis Chapman while they also consider getting utility man Martin Prado to help with the struggles of Stephen Drew. Expect New York to be very active in the coming hours.
