New York Yankees’ Trade Could Signal Massive Moves to Come

I could be wrong, but it feels like we're only at the tip of the iceberg.

The Major League Baseball Trade Deadline is this Friday, and teams around the league are hurrying to ready themselves for the occasion. The New York Yankees spent last night ironing their shirt, pressing their trousers, and laying everything out on the bed in advance for Friday's event. I use this metaphor to describe the trade they made with the Cincinnati Reds, sending relievers Luis Cessa and Justin Wilson to the Redbirds in exchange for a player to be named later.

The knee-jerk reaction to this trade has been: wait, what? Why? That's a logical response to a move that takes assets away from a bullpen that has the fifth-worst ERA in baseball in the month of July. That said, with every action, there is an equal-and-opposite reaction, and the reaction that's incoming could end up being seismic.

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First and foremost, what did the Yankees lose? In Cessa, you lose a reliever that's having a career year, and has progressed steadily as a Major Leaguer. He's sporting a 2.82 ERA over 29 appearances, good for second-best on the team among relievers with at least 20 games pitched. Wilson, meanwhile, has been far less successful, with an ERA over 7.50.

So, you lose one meaningful contributor from your bullpen, and offload one albatross contract in the process. Either way, you gain valuable flexibility for a team that, according to the New York Post, was less than $1 million from the luxury tax threshold.

Now, what comes next, you may ask? Well, the rumor mill is swirling, and a number of big fish have been connected to the Bombers. Trevor Story has been *almost* a Yankee for years now, and this could finally be the season that unites the two parties. Joey Gallo was mentioned as a possible fit in New York, and fans in the short porch in right field should be delighted to hear that news. Not only that, but former Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer has been linked to the team, and despite his desires to play out west, anything is possible come Deadline Day.

So, while the trade may look a little bizarre in a vacuum, it may pave the roadway for a massive move later this week.