Do The Yankees Regret The Jameson Taillon Trade?
The Yankees never ending search for starting pitching has become comical at this point. The Yankees should have never traded for Frankie Montas who was nothing except terrible during his short stint with the team thus far. Now Montas has essentially been ruled for the 2023 season after undergoing shoulder surgery. I tried to tell Diamond that Montas wasn’t any good but we know how this story goes for the Yankee fans. Trey owns them because they are constantly sold a false bill of goods by Brian Cashman who I’d own if ever given a GM job.
For the record, I’m against the Carlos Rodon addition as well. I was right about Montas. Time will tell on Rodon, although I love my chances. You see, Trey has been owning Cashman for years. He’s just not good at hitting the right buttons. I don’t know what to tell you.
I didn’t realize this until I read Joel Sherman’s latest post (shoutout, Joel. He’s damn good and one of the few I respect) but the Jameson Taillon trade might really turn into a stinker. Taillon might have been excited to pitch for the Yankees, but surely this is another trade that Cashman would love to have back. Cashman’s failure to put a consistent starting five out there has been his Achilles heel.
The Yankees gave up Miguel Yajure, Roansy Contreras, Maikol Escotto, and Canaan Smith-Njigba in the deal for Taillon. There’s time for some of the other names on this list to really backfire on New York. However, it may already be safe to say that losing Roansy Contreras might turn into a killer.
Contreras, 23, is a young pitcher with some serious promise and sported a 3.79 ERA in his first year of big league action. That ERA number is better than both years that Taillon pitched for the Yankees. Taillon didn’t pitch terrible for the Yankees but he’s already gone after two semi injury plagued years after signing a free agent contract with the Cubs this offseason.
These two paragraphs by Sherman in his post wrap this story up perfectly:
“Since the 2019 season ended, the Yankees have lost Garrett Whitlock in the Rule 5 draft; have traded Roansy Contreras and Glenn Otto; and have dealt starters Jordan Montgomery, Hayden Wesneski, T.J. Sikkema, Beck Way, Luis Medina, J.P. Sears and Ken Waldichuk at the 2022 deadline for Harrison Bader, Scott Effross, Andrew Benintendi, Lou Trivino and Montas.”
“Contreras (Pittsburgh) and Montgomery (St. Louis) are rotation locks, and the others either will begin the year in rotations or will have a chance as the season progresses. Meanwhile, only Bader and Trivino are still standing for the 2023 Yankees. Effross (Tommy John surgery) and Montas are injured, while Benintendi left in free agency for the White Sox.”
If and when the Yankees don’t have enough starting pitching in 2023, they will have themselves to blame. They have made a deal with the devil putting their faith in starters with injury risk and have gotten rid of their depth to do it, then are left wondering why it’s not enough to win another championship.
Welcome to the small market Yankees. Are you enjoying your stay?
