It was a huge trade and guess what? It involves the Yankees. The trade sends third baseman Todd Frazier and relief pitchers David Robertson and Tommy Kahnle from the White Sox to the Yankees in exchange for relief pitcher Tyler Clippard and three prospects including Yankees’ #1 2016 draft choice Blake Rutherford.
This trade is a win win for the Yankees. The key guy in my opinion is Kahnle who has an ERA of 2.50 and has 15 strike-outs per 9 innings. Not only that, but he’s signed for three more years. I can only think that the White Sox needed to give him up to get Rutherford. Frazier by the way is hitting only .207, but has 16 homers. Frazier though was hitting .267 on the road so he is bound to be better in New York especially in the middle of that line-up.
Frazier is even a bigger key since the Red Sox were rumored to get him and of course could really use his bat. My guess is if the Sox were serious they just didn’t have the prospects to match the Yankees or were unwilling to give up top prospects.
The Yankees won this trade big at least in the immediate future.
By the way, how many times has a player been rumored to go to the Red Sox and then the Yankees swoop in and get him. I can think of few off the top of my head:
Do John Wetteland, A-Rod and Mark Teixeira ring a bell?