The Trade That Bleeding Yankee Blue Saw Coming!

Did anyone see this trade coming? We actually wrote about it last week in Suzie’s piece, GOT DJ, NOW WHAT? believe it or not. Look, I always said that getting DJ LeMahieu back was important, but that alone wasn’t enough to get the Yankees back on top of the AL East if the starting rotation wasn’t addressed. I think Brian Cashman surprised us all.

So yesterday the Yankees traded for Jameson Taillon from the Pittsburgh Pirates and some are calling this a risky move and while I don’t disagree I think it is worth the risk. Taillon is coming back from his second Tommy John surgery and hasn’t pitched since May of 2019 so I’m sure the Yankees will ease him back into game action. Taillon has a lot of upside and coming back from a second Tommy John surgery is definitely riskier than the first, but the Yankees have some good inside information to go off of.

This isn’t a random move, the Yankees had a lot of resources to come to this decision, including Gerrit Cole. Back when both Taillon and Cole pitched down in the minors they were roommates. I’m sure Cole had a lot of insight for the Yankees that made them feel comfortable with this move.