SU liked the trade for Zach Britton. It accomplished two goals:
- First, he is probably the best pitcher that is truly available to the Yankees right now. Ideally, they would have acquired a starter but other than deGrom, no one out there is worth the prospects it would take. None of the guys included in this deal are considered to be top prospects and let’s face it, the Yankees are not great at developing their own pitching prospects who will become starters. True, Severino is a stud but Sheffield came via Cleveland and the others are not sure things.
- Equally important, the trade for Britton prevented the Red Sox and Houston from getting him. They both need a top line reliever and the Yankees have taken Britton off the market.
It also provides some insurance for Chapman whose knee has to be a concern down the stretch.
Now, consider this: if Tommy Kahnle can somehow regain his form, would the Yankees ever consider doing a Tampa Bay and lining up all of their relievers in a key playoff game? They almost have enough of them now to throw out a top group of pitchers. The reality is that they are likely better than most of their starters. Just a thought for October.
Look for Cashman to pick up a catcher in the coming week as well. Romine is certainly serviceable but Sanchez is supposed to be out “several weeks” and there is no way they bring him back too soon again. If Romine gets hurt, they are really short at this position right now.
The return of Torres is huge. He can actually put the ball in play. What a concept. Big game today – cannot lose another series to the Rays.
Sports Update Intergalactic 
Yup a great pick up and with only protecting 40 man roster from Rule 5 draft, we can’t keep all our prospects anyway. You are right, if Kahnle is healthy, we drop Cole and Shreve and when we add Britton and Kahnle we basically have 8 good to great relievers, a good recipe for the playoffs with our starters going only 5 or 6 innings. Loved Tanaka last night–if we only could give him 8 days rest between starts. Agree on need for a catcher–when Sanchez comes back, let him DH him against lefties for a while and sit Gardner or HIcks on those days–works well against Sale, Price and Keuchel
Barring a Chapman injury, I don’t see Britton being a difference-maker for the Yankees. But it’s nice to prevent him from going to a rival.
Strong move by the Yankees. Britton is not the dominant force of a few years ago but he is certainly an upgrade over Shreve and insurance for Chapman’s knee. Hard to believe he cost so much more than Famillia (That’s still a sore subject) but there was plenty of depth on the farm and Yankee prospects are almost always over-hyped anyway. Happ would be a good addition to this rotation if he came at a similar price. He is a veteran who has had success in the east and has been consistently above average the last few years. Being a lefty and a NU Wildcat is also a plus.
Cespedes to finally have surgery and be out for 9-10 months if lucky. Wilpon’s happy to collect on the insurance policy. Who cares about winning. OY VEY!
Britton is a solid pickup for the reasons you gave, Shreve, despite is gem performance last time isn’t the answer. Though I wouldn’t give the house away what about Wheeler. He’s had his ups and downs, but lately more ups. I like the idea of throwing most of the bullpen for a key playoff game. Grey should never be trusted against good teams. He stinks. Severino, Tanaka and our 300 lb reinvented CC Sabbathia and maybe 1 rain out to help them recover better might be good enough. Too bad Sanchez doesn’t have his head on straight. He would make though a solid DH hitter and a backup catcher to teams that need it. If the NL adopts the DH rule I can see him being traded to one of those teams. Too bad…. I still like him. he’s young and needs to listen to OBJ….. 🙂