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The New York Yankees would benefit from a shortstop upgrade before the August 3 MLB trade deadline.
One of the best available, CJ Abrams of the Washington Nationals, would be a home run of a pickup.
One problem, though: Abrams' cost won't be cheap.
The Athletic's Chris Kirschner suggested in a new analysis piece that the Yanks could offer pitchers Will Warren, Elmer Rodriguez and Chase Hampton to land Abrams.
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His colleague, Jim Bowden, writes that it wouldn't be enough.
In fact, Bowden goes on to say that it would take the phenom George Lombard to get the Nationals to accept an offer for Abrams.
"Abrams is having another banner season, hitting .297 with 27 homers, 17 steals and an MLB-leading 82 RBIs," Bowden writes. "He’s been worth 4.3 WAR, according to Baseball Reference. However, the Nationals haven’t been able to extend him long-term, so they will at least listen to trade offers. That said, for the Yankees to get in on a deal for Abrams, they would have to start the conversation by offering Lombard, then adding Warren. That is probably along the lines of what it would take for Washington to even consider trading the two-time All-Star to the Bronx."
Lombard is viewed as the Yankees' shortstop of the future, so it seems they'd be hesitant to include him in any deals right now.
The flip side of that reality is that if they were going to trade Lombard, it could make sense to do it for a more established shortstop. As long as the Yanks could then extend Abrams, they'd have their shortstop problem solved.
It'd be bold and expensive, but it could turn out to be worth it.
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