The Prado Trade: Something Different

It was pretty surprising that the Yanks traded Martin Prado yesterday.  Not that it looks like a bad trade or anything, but after re-signing Headley, it seemed Prado would just move to 2B.   For example, last season, the Yanks opted to keep Gardner after signing Ellsbury.  What Gardy might have brought back is unknown, but moving Prado who has positional versatility - like Gardy, was the opposite of not moving Gardy.  Thus, it was something different.  It's also clear that they believed more in Headley than they did in Prado.

The big question is whether they will really let Refnsyder play 2B, or if they will try to find some sort of defensive stopgap to man the position until Rob's defense is where they want it.

The two pitchers they got are intriguing, especially if they recognize what has been holding Eovaldi back.   The Yankees have a history of doing that, and it goes back a lot farther than McCarthy last year.

In 1930 the Yanks traded an OF named Cedric Durst to Boston along with 50K and a loan of 50K from Rupert to the Boston owner, and got back an unsuccessful pitcher named Red Ruffing - whom they had been trying to acquire for YEARS.   Here's why - and it was 80 years before anyone was even using the term analytics in baseball - Miller Huggins had noticed that Red was mostly an arm thrower who would tire out.   He knew if he could get him, he or his coaches, could teach him how to use his body.

Huggins died in `29 and Bob Shawkey, the former Yankee pitcher took over.  Shawkey new the same thing and talked the Colonel into getting Ruffing.  The rest is Yankee History as Red went on to become a Hall of Famer in Pinstripes.