New York Yankees HAVE HUGE Trade Opportunity! Should They Try? (Yankees News 2026)

Is Elly De La Cruz available? Are the Reds going to make him available? Jim Bowden comes out and says the Cincinnati Reds will absolutely consider trading Elly De La Cruz this offseason. The Red Sox made a strong offer at the deadline that was declined by the Reds. Here's another interesting tidbit. The Reds have offered this past season. They offered Elly De La Cruz a contract extension. He turned it down, so there's no extending him if you're the Cincinnati Reds. There's no extending him, probably for any team, and that's what you have to look at too. This is a guy who's most likely going to want to test free agency unless you could offer him a deal that he simply won't be able to refuse. Now, Elly, this season for the Reds, hit .283, 30 home runs, drove in 79. scored 99 times was a 30-30 guy .365 on base percentage .880 OPS 142 OPS plus he's a guy gets on base Yankees don't really have too many of those he would have had the highest batting average on the team he would have been in my opinion the Yankees best player this past season that's not counting Aaron Judge Aaron Judge missed most of the year but he would have been better than Ben Rice in my opinion solid over there shortstop So I believe seven outs above average, incredibly strong arm, defensive runs saved though. I think that was in the negatives. But is Ellie a guy that you would want the Yankees to go out and trade for? 24 years old, probably entering 2027. Well, he will be. January 11th is his birthday. He'll enter 2027 at the ripe age of 25. Ellie De La Cruz, do you want the Yankees to go out and try to trade for him? Now it's going to take a lot. It would take a lot. Ellie, incredibly young player, technically pre-arb. I believe he has three more years of team control. And he's a guy who already turned down an extension. But maybe if you could convince him. Here's the thing. If I'm the New York Yankees and you want to trade for Elly, and if somehow, someway you convince yourselves, like, all right. We're willing to do what it would take to get them. You better hope and pray because you can't have another Juan Soto thing, right? You just can't have that. You really didn't trade too, too much for Juan. You traded Michael King was a free agent, by the way. Could we see a reunion there? Probably not. But I mean, it wouldn't shock me at all if we if we did. The Yankees really like King still. But when it comes to Ellie, De La Cruz, if you're the New York Yankees and if you're even flirting with this idea, Of potentially trading for him. Please, for the love of everything, try to convince this guy to sign an extension. Because what it would take, what you would have to move to get Ellie. I mean, obviously, you're not moving Schlittler, right? So that's off the table. You would definitely have to trade Lombard. Definitely have to trade Dax Kilby. That's just to start. That's to start. And then maybe you add. A couple other names in there, maybe Elmer and then probably one more ball player, I would think could get it done if you want to throw in Caballero, because I think the Yankees are going to want Anthony Volpe in that Caballero role. They're kind of redundant, right? So anyway, let's look at this. You're looking at this is baseball trade values. It gives you an idea of what it would take for any type of trade package, really. So in this case, the trade for Ellie. Lombard, Dax Kilby, Elmer, and Caballero. That comes out to 101.2. Eight points over Ellie's trade value. Fair trade. Do you maybe ask the Reds to throw in a reliever? Maybe. If you could try. Maybe Graham Ashcraft. That's a name that a lot of people like. Maybe you could trade for him and Ellie for this package. Now, the Reds. If they make him available, there's going to be a bidding war to a point where maybe the Red Sox can outbid the Yankees. So it's does this deal get it done? You may have to add another big name, and I'm not saying it would be an overpay, but you would have to add another substantial name, I would think. Do you throw in Spencer Jones as well? Now, I mean, it's a lot. It's a lot for Ellie, but he's 24 years old. You'll have him for. Three more seasons. Well, three seasons now. I mean, the season's over now. We're basically in the offseason. Trading Lombard, I know that's tough for a lot of people, but I've said it before and I'm going to say it again. If there's two guys in Major League Baseball who I would move George Lombard for, Bobby Witt is one and Ellie was the other one. So I'm going to hold true to that. But you're probably going to have to move on from Lombard and Dax Kilby, from both guys. And that's if even Cincinnati would even be interested in that. It would take a whole lot to trade for Ellie. You're going to have other teams in on him. The Dodgers are going to be in on Ellie, too, if he were available. And since, according to Jim Bowden, the Reds might be interested or will absolutely consider trading him. That's what Bowden said. Will absolutely consider trading Ellie. The Yankees won't be the only team in on him, and Boston already made a strong offer for him. Already did. So if you send off a couple of your top prospects for Ellie, you're depleting your prospect capital already. I mean, Dax Kilby, George Lombard Jr. If you could somehow, someway convince Ellie to sign an extension, I'd be all for this. And some people would say, oh, I wouldn't hesitate to trade for Ellie. And listen. If the opportunity is there and you have him for three more years, the opportunity is there, how do you not go and try to trade for him? How do you not? He's an awesome talent. Awesome. He just strikes out a lot, sure. Great talent, though. Fantastic talent. Love to have him. The amount that it would take to get him is absolutely insane. Guys, let me know. I mean, I want to know what you guys think. If you guys think the Yankees. Trading for Ellie, if it would move the needle, if they should. Now, the Yankees have a lot of, I mean, they have to address a lot of areas. And in trading Lombard, you're trading your shortstop away, replacing him with Ellie. Okay, like that's one heck of an upgrade. I mean, it is. I think George is going to be a fabulous baseball player. But you're trading Lombard with George. Your hope is that he can be as good as Ellie. So if you trade George and you get Ellie, you're getting. What you want George to eventually be, but you're only getting him for three years. That's the problem. The Yankees need a third baseman, need a second baseman. Maybe Anthony Volpe could slide in there at second. There was a report that the Marlins, their asking price for Otto Lopez was so steep that people were saying, hey, why don't you just trade for Ellie then? If you have to give up that much, just trade for Ellie. Well, the Reds would absolutely consider it, according to Jim Bowden. That might happen. And listen, if Boston goes and tries to trade for him, imagine Ellie in the American League East, I mean, with the Boston Red Sox out of all teams. That'd suck. ****. Switch hitter. He's a fabulous player. I would love to have him. It would take a lot. I would love to have him. You have to kind of, if you're the Yankees though, you have to kind of just accept the fact that, hey, this might be the one guy that we make an exception for and we try our best to give him the best deal possible and extend him. Now, will the Yankees even do it? I don't think they will. I think they're going to look into it. I think they're going to see what it would take to get him. But once they get that asking price of Lombard and Kilby, they're going to say, you know what? I don't think so. Trade him somewhere else then. And that is going to suck. I like the idea of, I love the idea of Ellie. I do. He's very young. You just have to hope that you can extend him. That's it. Guys, listen, hit that like button. Subscribe if you haven't already. It's free. Thank you guys so, so much for watching. I'll see you guys next time. Take care.