The New York Yankees continue to remain active on the trade front. Joel Sherman of the New York Post was the first to report that the team sent Chase Headley back to the San Diego Padres along with pitcher Bryan Mitchell. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reported that the Yankees will receive Jabari Blash in return.
The Yankees have been trying to clear salary since acquiring Giancarlo Stanton and Headley’s $13 million salary certainly fits the bill.
Headley will be heading back to where he started his career and played from 2007-2014. He also had his best season of his career there in which he posted a .286/.376/.498 slash line while hitting 31 home runs and driving in 115 runs in 2012.
While his career has been a far cry from that since, he did deliver solid production in the second half last year as he had a .300/.366/.455 slash line with eight homers and 25 RBI.
Mitchell, meanwhile, has a 4.94 career ERA in 48 games (nine starts) to go along with a 1.62 WHIP and .292 average against him.
The return of Blash is underwhelming, as a salary dump would lead one to expect, as he has a .213/.333/.341 slash line for his career to go along with 100 strikeouts in only 235 at-bats.
This deal leaves a vacancy at third base and could potentially open the door for a Todd Frazier reunion, as Bryan Hotch of MLB.com speculates.
On the Padres front, this leaves opens up the possibility for other trades according to Rosenthal. The Padres could now move an infielder such as Yangervis Solarte, Carlos Asuaje, Ryan Schimpf, or Cory Spangenberg.
