New York Yankees Trade Rumors: Luis Severino to Atlanta Braves for Shelby Miller?
The New York Yankees are in need of starting pitching and have floated outfielder Brett Gardner and closer Andrew Miller in the trade market hoping to acquire an additional arm for their rotation. According to Jon Heyman of CBS Sports, the Atlanta Braves have reportedly offered Shelby Miller for Yankees top young starter Luis Severino.
Heyman noted that there are no indications if the Yankees are even considering the deal. In a recent interview with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Braves general manager John Coppolella revealed that he tried acquiring Severino from New York for Craig Kimbrel last season, but the deal fell through because Atlanta wanted the Yankees to also take Melvin Upton's bad contract.
"We made a strong run last year with the Yankees at pitcher Luis Severino and we didn't get the deal done last year, and now he's off-limits this year. I mean, if you feel like you have a chance to get special talent, you can't shy away from it. You've got to really jump at it and take that plunge. We were not sure that we could get these sorts of players, this was such a good opportunity for us that we wanted to seize it once it was available to us," Coppolella said.
The 21-year-old Dominican went 5-3 with 56 strikeouts and a 2.89 ERA in 11 starts after getting called up in August by the Yankees, per Baseball Reference. Severino is expected to be a part of the team's starting rotation next season.
According to a report by NJ Advance Media, Yankees general manager Brian Cashman named Severino along with first baseman Greg Bird and right fielder Aaron Judge as the three untouchable prospects in the team. However, it is also said that Cashman is open to all trade discussions this winter.
The report also added that Miller is still a young starting pitcher at 25 years old and is 32-25 with a 3.22 ERA in four years in the major leagues. Although he went 6-17 in his first season in Atlanta, Miller had a 3.02 ERA, which is good for 12th best in MLB.
He also went through a 24-start winless streak before winning his final start. Miller pitched 205.1 innings and struck out 171 batters last year while also ranking 15th in batting average allowed, 35th in walk rate and 29th in strikeout rate with a history of durability, per Baseball Reference.
NJ Advance Media notes that even though Miller can be under team control for the next three years, Severino's potential is much higher, cheaper and he won't hit the open market until 2022.
* This is a contributed article and this content does not necessarily represent the views of latinpost.com