The New York Yankees are currently down 6 games in the AL East and Brian Cashman finally decided enough was enough. After hoarding an unnecessary amount of prospects, Cashman finally dived into his piggy bank to improve the big league club. The Orioles have been the punching bag of the league and now will sell off Zach Britton. The Orioles also dealt away Manny Machado just last week.
Joel Sherman of the New York Post was the first to report the news:
Have been told if deal is finalized #Yankees are sending Dillon Tate, Josh Rogers and AAA reliever Cody Carroll to #Orioles
— Joel Sherman (@Joelsherman1) July 25, 2018
Britton, 30, is an impending free agent following the season. He has a long track record for being one of the best closers in the big league but he is coming off a torn Achilles and hasn’t quite been himself so far. Britton owns a 3.45 ERA to start 2018 which is a far cry result from his 1.94 mark in 2016. However, Britton has started to look like his old self lately not allowing an earned run in his past 8 starts. While Britton is a big name on the surface, we really have no idea if he’s going to recapture that magically form prior to the injury.
Britton is owed $4 million for the rest of the season. New York sits $16 million under the $197 million luxury tax mark which is something ownership has made imperative this season. The price to acquire Britton seems to be a fair one on the surface. New York will part with Dillion Tate (ranked 9th), Cody Carroll (ranked 15th), and Josh Rogers. Tate is the headliner of the trade who was the 4th overall pick in the 2015 MLB Draft selected by the Texas Rangers. Tate was part of the Carlos Beltran trade two years ago and is a high upside guy who may never pan out.
New York already leads baseball in bullpen ERA so I’m not sure how much this really helps. In reality, this team still needs a starting pitcher if it wants to catch the Red Sox in the AL East.
