Cubs & Yankees
Submitted by: NoahSNIPE
Cubs
| Name | Age | Level | P1 | P2 | Availability | Years | AFV | Salary | Surplus | Low | Median | High |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kevin Alcantara | Minors | OF | 8 | 6.4 | 8 | 9.6 | ||||||
| Jasson Dominguez | Minors | OF | 30.5 | 24.4 | 30.5 | 36.6 | ||||||
| Adam Ottavino | 34 | Majors | RHRP | Medium | 1 | 3.7 | 9 | -5.3 | -6.3 | -5.3 | -4.3 | |
| Gary Sanchez | 27 | Majors | C | Medium | 2 | 8.3 | 6.4 | 1.9 | 1.9 | 2.3 | 2.7 |
Total Value:
35.5
Yankees
| Name | Age | Level | P1 | P2 | Availability | Years | AFV | Salary | Surplus | Low | Median | High |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kris Bryant | 28 | Majors | 3B | OF | High | 1 | 22.3 | 18.6 | 3.7 | 3 | 3.7 | 4.5 |
| Willson Contreras | 28 | Majors | C | Medium | 2 | 50.5 | 22.2 | 28.3 | 22.6 | 28.3 | 34 |
Total Value:
32
Comments
4Cubs full send the rebuild with an ETA of 2025 because why not
This puts Gio Urshela out of a job. That's the only downside I see to this deal, aside from the Cubs taking on a terrible catcher in Sanchez. Though, I don't think Ottavino fits into this mix. He's the highest paid player going back to the Cubs (9 million) and the Cubs have no interest in taking on salary. Change him for someone like Michael King, Jordan Montgomery, or Chad Green and you've got yourself a pretty compelling deal for the Yanks.
NEWSLETTER? SURE, SIGN ME UP!
I figured Yanks probably want Cubs to eat a bit of salary with about 25-27m million heading their way between Contreas and Bryant. I think Cubs fans would be delighted to drop Ottavino for somebody like Montgomery/King to add to the rotation with cheap control left, but I think it puts it out of range in this simulator. The one upside I see is I think somebody like Ottavino might have some trade value deadline if he returns to form to help speed up the rebuild. I totally forgot about Gio, but figured Bryant could slot in corner outfield, 3B, 1B. I don't know much about the Yankees or if Gio could slot into SS/2B if they end up losing out on DJ, but that could be an option.
Lot to unpack there. 1) If you're thinking the Yankees need to also eat 25+ million to cover Contreras and Bryant (Combined owed 24.8M just for 2021... with Contreras under control for 2022 as well) then there's absolutely no way that the Yankees are ALSO parting with Jasson Dominguez. If you take out Dominguez, add in the money and swap Otto for one of the kids, then I think that evens out your issue in the simulator. 2) Gio just had surgery to remove a bone spur in his elbow that he was dealing with most of last season. Why they waited for him to have surgery until December instead of after they were eliminated from the playoffs, I'll never know.... but the Yankees have shown a propensity for being stupid with injuries (see Paxton, James in 2020 and Severino, Luis in 2020 for examples). That said, Gio is originally a SS by nature though I'm not sure if he's got the range for that anymore. His body type doesn't exactly lend itself to that anymore either. 2B might be a decent idea for him given the elbow thing... less strain throwing across the diamond from 3rd than at the keystone position. OF for the Yankees is a cluster. Judge, Hicks, Stanton, Frazier, Tauchman.... you throw Bryant into that mix and you're running into a situation where you've got too many mouths to feed and not enough to go around. The only way it works is if the Yanks miss out on DJL. 3) I'm not entirely sure Cashman is interested in giving up on Gary Sanchez yet. I'm sure Yankee fans are, but the FO of the Yankees seem very intrigued by having a defensive liability with 30 homer upside in that stadium. With him, Judge, Stanton, Voit and Gleyber all with 30 upside, if you were to just add Bryant to that lineup and not take Contreras, you'd not have to give up so much and you'd still upgrade that team substantially. I think that's more likely than the catcher swap.