Ever since beginning the second half of the 2022 MLB season, the New York Yankees have been on a slide.
Their recent stretch of games saw them lose their hold on not just the best record in all of baseball, but in the American League as well.
New York was active at the trade deadline, shipping Joey Gallo off to the Los Angeles Dodgers, while also landing Andrew Benintendi, Frankie Montas, and Lou Trivino.
However, they made one questionable decision, trading Jordan Montgomery to the St. Louis Cardinals, who recently swept the Bronx Bombers.
Alex Rodriguez didn’t hesitate to call the Yankees out on their trade deadline strategy, saying that what they did just didn’t make much sense.
“You don’t get [Luis] Castillo and you lose [Jordan] Montgomery. It doesn’t make a lot of sense.” – @AROD on ESPN2
— Bryan Hoch (@BryanHoch) August 15, 2022
A-Rod Calls Out Yankees Deadline Strategy
While New York was certainly active, trading Montgomery was a questionable move, especially when Harrison Bader is still on the injured list.
Sure, maybe they were clearing a spot in the rotation for Luis Severino‘s return and Montgomery wouldn’t have cracked the postseason rotation anyway.
But it’s still a questionable decision, especially considering that Severino has struggled to stay healthy over the years.
A-Rod is certainly speaking the truth when he says that their process didn’t make a whole lot of sense.
What the Yankees did do by trading Montgomery was help the Cardinals address their rotation problems, and give them an edge when they went to St. Louis.
Not acquiring Luis Castillo is forgivable, given that they acquired Montas, to help shore up the rotation.
Montas isn’t too much of a step down from Castillo, and the price the Seattle Mariners paid for him was a steep one.
But the Montgomery trade is the one that sticks out as one of the more questionable moves the Yankees made.