Friday night ended with real fear in Yankeeland that Aaron Judge was lost for the season. If that had happened, the team could have seriously considered pivoting to selling at the trade deadline, league sources say.
Devin Williams and Cody Bellinger would be highly appealing to other clubs (attn: New York Mets), and the Yanks could have made like 2016 and taken a small step back to reload.
As it turned out, Judge did not need Tommy John surgery. He has a flexor strain and is expected to return in approximately ten days, sources say. He will DH at first but could play right field after a few games.
But even with Judge, it’s fair to wonder if it makes sense for Brian Cashman and his front office to sell future assets to boost a 2025 team that does not seem championship-caliber.
It’s also fair to wonder — though we still have to classify this as an extreme longshot — if another few days of sloppy baseball would make selling the rational choice. Rival executives have heard that the Yanks might become willing to talk about relievers on expiring contracts.
On the one hand, Fangraphs’ playoff odds on Sunday morning put the Yankees at 84.6 percent. Teams with odds like that don’t sell, especially in an era when anyone with a .500 record is a potential champion.
But if you watch the Yankees you know that the best argument for them seems to be that the rest of the American League is weak. The path to the World Series is not exactly cluttered with stiff competition.
It probably makes the most sense for Cashman to act as a soft buyer this week — to make modest improvements to the current roster without giving up much.
That’s what he has done so far. Third baseman Ryan McMahon is under contract for two more years and infielder Amed Rosario is a bench piece. Neither of those trades tells the story of a front office that is aggressively all-in on the current season.
Perhaps more telling is the organization’s evolving stance on prospect Spencer Jones. Last week, the Yankees seemed relieved that Jones was hot in Triple-A, in part because it elevated his status from near-bust to appealing trade bait.
This weekend, they seem far less likely to trade Jones. Sure, Jones is playing his way back toward untouchable status. But one also wonders if another part of the calculation is the organization's awareness that this year’s Yankees aren't good enough to sacrifice a top prospect in a trade.
Aaron Boone simply does not have the bullpen pieces to contend for a championship. But if Cashman can get him two quality arms in addition to the returning Fernando Cruz, maybe the picture will brighten.
It’s always important to remember how dramatically a team’s outlook can change from one week or month to the next. A refurbished bullpen could put the Yankees right back in the division race.
But it’s also worth remembering that Cashman and his front office have seen many teams and seasons. They can sense when it’s worth pushing their chips to the middle of the table, and when a roster isn’t deserving of that approach.
Are these Yankees worth upgrading?
Watch the next few games carefully. Those could tell the story.
