Last offseason the D-backs, Yankees, and Tigers completed a three-way trade, and now a year later they do it again. This time the trade went down like this: Yankees acquire Didi Gregorious, Tigers acquire Shane Greene, and the D-backs get the worst of it in Robbie Ray and an infield prospect.
Breaking down this trade:
Yankees
Going into 2014 the starting rotation looked like this: 1. Tanaka, 2. CC, 3. Kuroda, 4. Ivan Nova, and 5. Michael Pineda. This was one of the best rotations at least in the AL, possibly in the whole major leagues. Quickly though it all fell to pieces as CC was practically sidelined the whole year, Tanaka started out terrific then went to the DL until mid-September, and Nova also was sucked in by the DL too. So that left the Yankees with the 39 year old Kuroda and an injury prone, and yet to be seen good arsenal of Pineda. So in order to fill the rest of the rotation they had to “ping pong” pitchers back and forth from triple A, but one guy in that scenario that stole the spot light was 25-year-old rookie Shane Greene. With Kuroda possibly leaving and the uncertainty of CC, Nova, and Pineda, Greene was the only true starter to come back and be a solid piece in the rotation, but now he is gone and what do they get back? Didi Gregorious. Yes they needed a shortstop, but not a guy who’s bat is barely worth it. Yes he can flat out play the field, yes he has a lot of potential and is a Dee Gordon look alike, but was he really the best the Yankees could get to replace the Captain? And was he really worth giving up a 25-year-old stud pitcher for who could have been in the Yankees future plans? Absolutely, not. Yes he is a good player to have on the club as another infield option, but players like Asdrubal Cabrera and Jed Lowrie would be better fits as they have been proven to hit. Plus Tulo is on the trade block, even though it would be a long shot to get him. In the end Didi is a good add and could very well turn into Dee Gordon of the AL in 2015, but does his potential alone trump the proven ability of Shane Greene?
Tigers
With a disappointing Verlander and possibility of the departure of Max Scherzer, they needed another pitcher. For basically nothing they got an inexpensive great young talent in Shane Greene. This guy is the real deal, as the Tigers very well know it when they saw him shut down their offense in 15 innings back in August giving up only 2 runs. The Tigers gave up Robbie Ray who had a 4.27 ERA in the minors and an infield prospect. Yea practically nothing close to valuable.
D-Backs
They give up Didi Gregorius who went really well hand in hand with Chris Owings at SS. Chris Owings is not quite good enough to be an everyday starter, so this is quite a loss for the Diamondbacks. In return they get a bum minor leaguer and an infield prospect with B- potential. With all the praise of Didi around the league, they needed more back in return.
Overall the Tigers are the big winners in this trade and for the Yanks, it could have been worse.
