Call them stubborn, call them hard headed or simply praise them for their resilient poker face but there is no denying that regardless of the New York Yankees delusional outlook that there is still a chance this season, they will be selling at the deadline.
And rival MLB executives echo that sentiment despite the Yankees publicly stating they are not yet thinking about what is becoming a foregone conclusion. Some rival executives told Buster Olney of ESPN that they fully expect the Yankees to trade both Andrew Miller and Aroldis Chapman before or at the trade deadline.
The Yankees, regardless if it’s just lip service or an example of a false sense of reality, have been telling everyone that they believe they can turn this dreadful season around despite evidence to the contrary.
One member of the Yankees organization, General Manager Brian Cashman, realizes that time is not on their side.
“If it’s something that makes sense for the short and long term, we’ll decipher it, go through it,” Cashman said on a podcast appearance with ESPN’s Buster Olney Tuesday.
“I’ve certainly encouraged all clubs that have any interest in players to … if they want to make some offers they want me to consider and maybe ownership to consider I’ll take it to ownership and it’s my obligation to do so. It doesn’t mean we’re in sell mode, but it certainly means that we’re open to everything and anything just like we were this winter.”
When it comes to the decision making process that will lead them towards being buyer or sellers, Cashman elaborated:
“I think that gets dictated by our play on the field,” Cashman said. “We have not been playing well. We’ve been a .500 team the entire season thus far and I’ve publicly stated this team needs to declare itself one way or another.
“It, unfortunately, hasn’t declared itself in a positive way and the way we had hoped as of yet. So the clock is ticking, and the more we stay in this mode we’re currently in it’s going to force us into some tough decisions.”
Some may label them as “tough decisions” while others say it’s more of an “obvious” decision making process. Either way, when the Yankees sober up from their intoxicating state of unrealistic expectations about the 2016 season they will realize what fans and MLB execs have already; it’s time to sell big at the deadline