Blockbuster Trade Proposal: Yankees Send Four Players to Rockies in Deal For Trevor Story

TAMPA — This time of year, sports fans are accustomed to seeing blockbuster trade proposals for their favorite NFL team. This time, it's a hypothetical blockbuster between the Yankees and Rockies, a deal that's designed to go down before Opening Day.

In this trade proposal, fostered by former general manager and current national baseball writer for The Athletic Jim Bowden, New York comes to an agreement on a seven-player deal with Colorado.

Here's Bowden's bold proposed trade:

Yankees acquire: SS Trevor Story, RHP Germán Márquez, RHP Daniel Bard

Rockies acquire: RHP Deivi García, RHP Jonathan Loaisiga, 3B Gio Urshela, INF Miguel Andújar 

That's four key players heading from the Bronx to the Rocky Mountains in exchange for one of the best shortstops in the game and two veteran arms. 

Is there any way we could see a deal like this come to fruition over the next few weeks? Probably not, but let's break it down.

Bowden's reasoning behind this trade is that 2021 is "World Series or bust" for the Bombers. This would be a way for general manager Brian Cashman to make one of the league's best lineups even more dangerous while adding two right-handers to an already deep pitching staff.

As Bowden mentions, Story is in the final year of his contract with the Rockies and no negotiations on an extension have taken place to this point. Rather than allowing the shortstop to walk in free agency, Colorado gets four young studs in return.

Here's how Bowden envisions the acquisition of Story impacting New York's roster:

Story is one of the best overall players in the game. A two-time All-Star and two-time Silver Slugger Award winner, Story has averaged 36 home runs per 162 games, with 80 career stolen bases, including a NL-leading 15 last season. He’s finished top 12 in NL MVP voting the past three seasons. He’s an above-average defender with range to both sides and a strong arm. He has strong opposite-field power, well-suited for the short right-field porch at Yankee Stadium. If the Yankees acquired him, in all likelihood they’d be able to sign him long term as they did with his good friend LeMahieu. This trade would allow the Yankees to move Gleyber Torres to second base, his best position, and LeMahieu to third. And just imagine adding Story to Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and LeMahieu in the middle of the Bronx Bombers’ lineup. Yikes!

He's got a point. Factor in Torres, Gary Sánchez, Clint Frazier, Aaron Hicks and MLB's reigning homer king Luke Voit and the Yankees would arguably have the best lineup in baseball. 

Adding Márquez would theoretically give New York a sure thing behind ace Gerrit Cole while Corey Kluber and Jameson Taillon still carry question marks into the regular season. Márquez has been incredibly consistent these last few years, making 28-plus starts and pitching in 162-plus innings from 2017 to 2019. Last year, the right-hander led baseball with 13 starts including 81.2 innings pitched, the most in the National League. 

Plus, right-hander Daniel Bard—last year's NL Comeback Player of the Year—would bolster the bullpen in Zack Britton's absence as he starts the season on the injured list. Bard spent the first five years of his big-league career with the Boston Red Sox, so he's familiar with Yankee Stadium and the AL East.

The sacrifices here, however, would definitely hurt. Deivi García—the Yankees' third-rated prospect per MLB Pipeline—projects to play a role in this starting rotation for years to come. Gio Urshela has been a revelation in pinstripes and his defense at the hot corner is invaluable to this club. 

Then there's Jonathan Loaisiga, a right-hander that continues to perform at a high level and has shown the potential to develop into a dangerous late-inning reliever. Finally, Miguel Andújar—who nearly won a Rookie of the Year Award not too long ago but has been blocked on this roster ever since—is included as well. He could thrive in another uniform with a starting job.

Colorado isn't close to contending in the NL West, so a deal like this would help their build toward relevance. Again, rather than watching Story walk in free agency, they get a handful of valuable pieces in return. 

The big question is whether or not Cashman and the Yankees would agree to part ways with those four assets. It's safe to assume a big part of Cashman's answer would be contingent upon Story's willingness to stick around for the long term, as he's only 28 years old.

Remember, New York was apprehensive to move García, or any of their top prospects, at last year's trade deadline. Even if García hasn't realized his true big-league potential yet, he's the kind of pitcher that this organization believes in and is excited to continue to develop into a starter situated toward the top of the rotation.

You have to make those kind of painful decisions when trading for a player of Story's caliber, though. At least in this hypothetical, New York would hold onto top prospect Jasson Dominguez as well as highly-touted right-hander Clarke Schmidt. 

Seeing a trade of this magnitude go down at this point of the year seems just a bit unlikely, even if there are benefits for both clubs. Colorado may want to hold onto Story until later in the year to increase his value even more, getting a bigger return from a team looking to add a star for the stretch run.

We could also nitpick and emphasize the need for left-handed bats in New York's lineup, rather than yet another righty power hitter. Adding a player like Story, however, would be an exception.

Cashman and Yankees manager Aaron Boone have been impressed with the strides Torres has continued to make at shortstop this spring. You can certainly argue that New York doesn't need to make this deal and would be better served evaluating internal options ahead of roster cuts for the regular season. 

After all, Urshela, García and Loaisiga are all expected to play a role in the Yankees' pursuit of a championship this year. Andújar seems to be the most expendable of the bunch.

To see more on this deal, as well as four additional bold trade proposals, check out Bowden's latest article at The Athletic by clicking here. 

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