With Blockbuster Trades, the Yankees Embrace the Moment

It was one month ago on Thursday that Brian Cashman, the disarmingly frank general manager of the Yankees, said his team was as bad as it could be. The Yankees’ performance “stinks to the high heavens,” Cashman said, and if things got worse, they might be sellers by the trading deadline.

“If we fall like a stone, you have to regroup and reassess,” he said. “We’re trying to fix what we’ve got, to self-correct what we have and add to it if we can. But if it’s unworthy at some point, then you have to have different conversations.”

The Yankees were two games over .500 then, and now they are five over, at 53-48. If they have not exactly surged since Cashman’s grim assessment, they have not fallen like a stone, either. They have not been forced to make a strategic pivot nobody wanted to make.

So while the Yankees were terrible on the field Thursday — spanked by the Tampa Bay Rays, 14-0 — they were triumphant off it. After announcing a six-player trade with the Texas Rangers that landed one left-handed slugger, outfielder Joey Gallo, they snagged another from the Chicago Cubs with a deal for first baseman Anthony Rizzo.

The Yankees sent Kevin Alcantara, a 19-year-old outfielder in rookie ball, and Alexander Vizcaino, a 24-year-old Class A right-handed pitcher, to the Cubs for Rizzo, who is eligible for free agency this fall. They traded four prospects to the Rangers for Gallo and a left-handed reliever, Joely Rodriguez.

The trades were a firm endorsement by Cashman and the team’s principal owner, Hal Steinbrenner, of a roster that has been plagued by injuries and inconsistency. Even before the Rizzo deal, the players already sounded invigorated.

“From management, it just shows that they believe in this team,” starter Jameson Taillon said. “We’ve obviously been through some adversity so far and we’ve had our ups and downs, but it lets us know that they believe in the group we have and we’re a piece or two away from making a nice run here. That part of it’s exciting. Everyone was talking about it last night; there was definitely a buzz in the clubhouse.”

The Yankees must translate that feeling onto the field, of course. Gerrit Cole gave up seven earned runs in five and a third innings on Thursday, and the Yankees did not score, missing a chance for a three-game sweep of the Rays. But behind the scenes, at least, they were acting like the aggressive, win-now brand they are.

“Part of the reason why I’m here is because Hal always goes for it; so does Brian,” said Cole, who signed with the Yankees before the 2020 season. “So I really feel fortunate to be in a spot where the club’s going to make a fantastic move like that and continue to push chips in.”

While Gallo has never played in the postseason, Rizzo, who is batting .248 with 14 home runs this season, helped the Cubs win the 2016 World Series, hitting .410 with three homers, 10 runs batted in and a 1.258 on-base plus slugging percentage across the team’s final 10 postseason games.

Just as important, at least in Cubs’ lore, was Rizzo’s clubhouse routine before Game 5 of the World Series against Cleveland, when the Cubs trailed the series three games to one. Rizzo blasted the “Rocky” theme through the clubhouse and exhorted the team with motivational tips — while naked. (Hey, whatever works.)

“The year before that, we were down 3-0 to the Mets and we ended up getting swept,” Rizzo said a couple of years later, referring to the 2015 N.L.C.S. “So the next year when we were down 3-1, it just kind of flipped. It was like: ‘No, we’re not doing this, we’re good, we’ve won three games in a row before. We’re going to take care of business and go to Cleveland.’”

When it was over, the last out of the World Series ended up in Rizzo’s glove. The Cubs had been waiting 108 years for that moment, and Rizzo was instrumental in making it happen. To him, the Yankees’ 11-year title drought must seem paltry.

Still, ending it this year will be a challenge. The Yankees are fourth in the race for two American League wild card spots and third in the A.L. East, far behind the Boston Red Sox and the Rays.

As the pennant race unfolds, the Yankees hope to add the right-handed pitchers Luis Severino and Corey Kluber, who are both recovering from arm injuries. But the Red Sox can counter that when they get the ace lefty Chris Sale back, and the Rays — well, the Rays always have some kind of witchcraft brewing. Last week they traded their leader in starts, Rich Hill, to the Mets, and on Thursday they traded their leader in saves, Diego Castillo, to Seattle. Chances are they’ll be fine, somehow.

In the wild card race, the Yankees are mainly chasing another low-payroll marvel trapped in a stadium they are desperate to leave: the Oakland Athletics. The A’s just traded with the Miami Marlins for outfielder Starling Marte, a veteran with speed and punch who is enjoying his best season. Oakland traded a promising young starter, Jesus Luzardo, to get him, but has gotten good work from another young starter, James Kaprielian.

Kaprielian, you may remember, was a first-round draft pick of the Yankees in 2015; two years later, the Yankees traded him at the deadline for Sonny Gray, who never quite fit in pinstripes. Deadline deals, indeed, can often come back to haunt teams, but the moment is all that matters.

This was Cashman’s moment to give the Yankees the left-handed thump they needed, and he did what he had to do.