A few more losses, and the Yankees should consider selling at the trade deadline

 

It won't happen, of course. 

The Yankees never look at the long haul - not in July, anyway.

Nope. Three weeks from now, Cooperstown Cashman will do what he always does: bundle prospects, along with home and car insurance, and trade the Yankee future for a few bullpen lug nuts who have already thrown more pitches than in any previous summers of their careers. 

When you buy a used Mustang, you come to own every mile, every storm, every pothole, that it's been driven through. You own the leaking oil, the twitchy turn-signal and the strange scent of the compartment. You own the elbow, the rotator cuff, the hamstring. You buy it all. 

But Cashman will do what Cashman does: Trade youth for age, tomorrow for yesterday, the future for the past. He'll land a mid-thirties RH catcher and some bullpen stopgaps, and he'll be hailed by YES as baseball's version of Peter Minuit. Then the wheels will start creaking.

What if the Yankees did this... 

1. Trade Anthony Volpe. (This might actually happen, as he is being booed at home.) The problem: They won't get much, trading a guy in the pit of his career. Also, you can't help but think Volpe could blossom, once he escapes the hometown hero bullshit that the Yankees piled onto him.  But George Lombard Jr. is coming, and it's time they started destroying the next kid on Lucy's chocolates conveyor belt.

2. Trade Giancarlo Stanton. Or release him. Or something. This won't happen, because over the years, the brain trust has made peace with Stanton playing 50 games per season. If they paid part of his $29 million salary - the Marlins are already coughing up $10 million - they might get a low-level lottery ticket. 

3. Trade Jazz Chisholm. I feel bad suggesting this, as I have come to enjoy Chisholm's antics. The foul to his balls. The lollypop. The embarrassing pitch call challenges. The cockeyed way he wears his cap. Guy's always up to something. I believe he plays as hard as any Yankee, and when he gets on base, he runs wild. He could lead MLB in stolen bases (he's currently third.) And he would fetch a decent haul. 

4. Trade Paul Goldschmidt. Again, he's a fan fave, a great player and a future Hall of Fame cusp candidate. He can help any team. Trouble is, he's 0-for-34 and has struck out 10 of his last 12 plate appearances. Has any player been more in need of a week off? 

5. Frankly, trade anybody over 32 who is not named Aaron Judge. I think we've seen enough to know that the 2026 Yankees are not a Team of Destiny. It's fun to imagine Judge returning and magically rallying the lineup. But why kid ourselves. When he does come back, he'll need to DH, rather than subject his tender rib to the rigors of right field. That leaves the Yankees with four DHs - Stanton, Judge, Goldy and Rice. 

Seriously, I think we've seen enough. Play The Martian. Play Spencer Jones. Bring up Lombard and Elmer. Let's see what happens. It can't be worse than this.

Afternoon game today. Beware.