 James Paxton is a Yankee and I'll say right out front I think it's a good deal the Yankee strike early because they need two top flight starters so they get one right away now they could either dabble on the free agent market or explore going after a Kluber or a Carrasco somebody like that but this is one of the top starters available on the market and the Yankees got one of them now they gave up their number one prospect according to Baseball America and that's the young left-hander 22 year old Justice Sheffield but I will tell you this everybody he might be listed as their number one prospect I believe that in the Yankee hierarchy they don't look at him as their best prospect because consider this just take a breath and consider this nobody likes to see their young players traded but the Yankees all second half of the season were desperate for starting pitching desperate they never called up Justice Sheffield they traded for Lance Lynn they traded for Jay Hap and the only time Justice Sheffield came up was in the middle of September to work out of the bullpen he's got a great arm he does not have great command in two stops in the minor leagues last year he walked 50 people now the Yankees are built to win right now Cashman came on this show and said it Sheffield is not a product that you buy and use right now Sheffield is a down the line guy who could end up being a really good pitcher James Paxton is considered one of the better pitchers in baseball are there negatives attached to it absolutely there are negatives attached gives up too many home runs last year hard contact percentage is high he's never pitched over 160 innings in his life in a season so durability questions those are there as well but the Yankees need to bolster their starting rotation and they did one down one to go whether that next one to go is Kluber, Carrasco, Ovalde, Corbin don't know not quite sure but I think this was a smart move and when you look at the baseball cognizante okay everybody says wow the Mariners didn't really get much for him now Justice Sheffield turns out to be a great pitcher of obviously it will be a deal that will look good for the Mariners because they have control of him for six years and the Yankees have control of Paxton for two years but if in those two years Paxton helps them win a world series they're home free in terms of guilt about trading a guy that could turn out to be a good pitcher the other two players I thought it would have been a good deal for Seattle if they got Sheffield and somebody else in the top ten prospects for the Yankees they didn't this in my opinion is a good deal for the Yankees I like the deal I like the move and sometimes you have to trade quality for quality well they gave up their number one quote unquote prospect who I truly believe they don't look as a guy who's going to start for them anytime in the near future I don't think you should get that upset about Sheffield he was going to be gone for somebody because as you said there were opportunities when the Yankees needed pitching and he wasn't called up so you knew that he was going to be a bargaining chip to get a starting pitcher but whether this turns out to be a good deal or not is going to depend on how Paxton pitches and there's a lot of unknown as you said he's been injury prone he hasn't thrown a ton of innings he's never pitched in the postseason you might have gotten Sonny Gray you might have gotten Tanaka right you might have gotten the next stud on your rotation you might have you might have acquired you know the Jimmy Key of the 90s or the Mike Mussina of the 90s or you might have went out and got a guy that's Sonny Gray who's going to pitch and people are going to go why do we get him there's no stats Michael to jump out at you and say that this guy's guaranteed to work he's never like half at least had a resume in the postseason so for a Yankee team that needs that rotation in the postseason let's face it the Yankees are going to win a hundred games they're going to be in contention to win the division and they're likely going to be a playoff team they're they're trying to bolster their their rotation for the postseason if you acquired a cluber you would have known you would have got a guy who's got a resume pitching in big games you didn't get that and you still could I and you still can but as far as judging how good this deal is giving up Sheffield to me doesn't matter you were going to give him up anyway question is what's Paxton going to be if he's going to be a contributor to a championship of course it was well worth it if he's going to be the next sonny gray if he's going to be the next picture that doesn't live up to expectations in New York then you'll look back and say boy I wish we would have saved him to get somebody else and the one glitch in analytics is and and the glitch reared his ugly head in the sonny gray situation it doesn't quantify there's an own number you could put on and say oh yeah he'll work in New York he's got the stomach for New York you could do your due diligence that's where scouting comes into play you could talk to people I've been teammates of his and try to approximate what he'll do in New York but until you step on that mound when there are 48,000 people screaming and it's a big game we don't know how you're going to react so all the other boxes could be checked the ability to pitch in New York that is yet to be seen so that's a concern big games are concerned health is a concern and home runs because he pits in a ballpark that doesn't yield many home runs and now he will pitch so because he pits in Yankee Stadium once this year and he got clubbed for two home runs in the first inning right so yeah we'll see because it's a different world in Seattle as opposed to pitching in New York kids from Canada pitches in Seattle now we still haven't come into New York on a team that's expected to win a championship so to disagree with you I still say it's incomplete you say it's a good deal I don't think it's a bad deal I don't think he gave up too much for him oh it's always incomplete because I but because we have to we have to take a stand I like the deal right and and I think it's worth it but we still have to think that because we're gonna have to wait and see how it turns out I like the sunny gray deal right it didn't work out but it would have been a little bit different analyzing it if they went out and got a pitcher that had a little bit more of an extensive resume like you say you go out and cluber he's got value he's a name he's pitched in the postseason before he's been on a team that's been a division championship before he's pitched in a world series so there's these are the things that the Yankees are looking for you don't come to the Yankees to help make the playoffs you come to the Yankees to help win a championship James Paxton did not help them make the playoffs by making this deal the idea is to try to avoid what happened in the postseason when you didn't get the pitching you were looking for against the Red Sox that's kind of what it really nails down to right is can this kid or guys 30 pitch at Fenway Park in a big situation that we will we will find out one box that he checked for the Yankees Yankees like pitchers with swing and miss ability so he threw 160 innings last year and he struck out over 200 I believe he has the second highest fastball average for starter uh in uh in baseball so he throws hard he has swing and miss ability and the Yankees like that they don't want you to put the ball in play just like they strike out a lot they want you to strike out a lot