A day after Ben Gamel won the International League MVP last August, the Yankees traded him to the Mariners. They envisioned a crowded 40-man roster, including lots of outfielders such as Aaron Judge, Clint Frazier and Dustin Fowler whom they ranked ahead of Gamel, who has played so well this season with Seattle that he might finish second to Judge for AL Rookie of the Year.
Nothing has changed with the Yankees’ 40-man issues and volume of outfielders they like, which is why Billy McKinney and Jake Cave — lefty-swinging outfielders like Gamel — become possible trade chips between now and Aug. 31. Neither is on the 40-man roster. Both would have to be placed there after the season or risk being lost.
McKinney, the 24th pick in the 2013 draft by the Athletics, was the second piece after Gleyber Torres the Yankees received from the Cubs last July in the Aroldis Chapman deal. He was impressive during the spring, began this year slowly, but in 23 games at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre has hit .333 with a 1.008 OPS.
Cave, whom the Yankees once lost to the Reds in the Rule 5 draft only to get back, was promoted to Triple-A in mid-June and in 38 subsequent games hit .366 with 20 extra-base hits, including 11 homers.
At the least, Cave and McKinney have put themselves on the radar elsewhere as it continues to be hard to see where they fit with the Yankees.
More than ever teams are looking to solidify their pens because they are needed to survive the season, plus the importance of relievers magnifies come the postseason.
Whether because of injury or de-emphasis, just 72 starters were qualified for the ERA title. That is barely more than two per team and would mark the fourth straight year that the total has dropped and be down from 93 as recently as 2011.
The Cardinals were under .500 and fighting to stay in the playoff hunt despite being the only team with five qualified starters.
Meanwhile, the two most dominant teams of 2017 – the Astros and Dodgers – were among the nine teams that had just one. The Dodgers one is Clayton Kershaw, who is on the DL.
The Yankees have three with Jordan Montgomery, Luis Severino and Masahiro Tanaka. The Mets, who thought a powerhouse rotation would again carry them to October, have just one with Jacob deGrom.