Does the Yankees' trade for pitcher Lance Lynn make them better?
That was a topic of debate on Tuesday's "Carlin, Maggie and Bart" show.
Maggie Gray said she greeted the news Monday evening that the Yankees had acquired the right-hander from the Minnesota Twins in exchange for first baseman/outfielder Tyler Austin and minor league pitcher Luis Rijo with a shrug. In a separate move Monday, New York dealt reliever Adam Warren to Seattle for international signing bonus money.
"I've got to be honest, I'm really hoping that there's some big international person out there, a player, that the Yankees are targeting and that's why they need, why they want all this international money stashed away," Gray said. "Because, quite frankly, I didn't see the huge upgrade that Lance Lynn gives you over Adam Warren. Unless you just want to add more international money, I didn't see it.
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"Does this now make me feel like you're going to close the gap on the Red Sox? No! No!" Gray added.
"Is Lance Lynn really the answer here? If you needed a spot start, could you not have gotten that from Warren? Could you not have gotten that from (A.J.) Cole?"
Bart Scott agreed with Gray.
"All you have to do is look directly at the seasons that the two are having," he said, referring to Lynn and Warren. "I know that Lance Lynn, he was in the Camp Florida ... Camp Jobless, and he got a late start. But they think that he's picking up now -- and I know his last couple of starts have been better -- but we're talking about a guy with over a 5 ERA. So I understand that he has experience in the playoffs and things of that sort. But when you think about how Adam Warren was performing for you already with a 2 ERA, it just makes sense right there (to have kept Warren). He's already been in the system. He's already acclimated to being a Yankee and being here and all of what that means. I don't see where this is a tremendous upgrade, either."
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Chris Carlin, however, said he believes the Lynn trade helps the Yankees a lot.
"He's a guy that has versatility, and I understand that the numbers might not be where they have been in the past before, but he's got a history," Carlin said.
"I think he can come in and be a better version than Adam Warren, and, quite frankly, if you do lose somebody to injury in the rotation, if you do need to give a spot start to someone, if you do want to give a rest to (Luis) Severino, as his innings get up there toward the end of the year -- you want to do all those things, this is a guy that lets you do those things."