It has been a fascinating couple of weeks for the New York Yankees. Convinced in late July that the smart thing to do was selloff some valuable assets, Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner authorized general manager Brian Cashman to peddle three high-profile players. Free-agent-to-be lefty closer Aroldis Chapman went to the Cubs; lefty reliever Andrew Miller (who is under club control for two additional seasons) went to the Indians and designated hitter/outfielder Carlos Beltran was shipped to the Rangers.
For their part, the Yankees picked up four prospects in the Chapman and Miller deals and three more for Beltran. That's quite an impressive 11-person haul and not just in quantity. Most insiders are heaping praise on Cashman for the quality of the return he got back in the deals.
I had a chance to listen to Cashman last week on XM Radio with Jim Bowden, and it was truly fascinating how Cashman approached the last four-to-six weeks before to the deadline. He essentially honed in on the six or seven teams with the deepest farm systems and dispatched his scouts out to see each and every prospect the club was interested in. And he sometimes had second looks at the prospects they were really interested in. While this was going on, Cashman said team president Randy Levine and Steinbrenner were having internal debates about whether the Yankees would be buyers or sellers.
