I think Luke Voit may best sum up the new direction the Yankees have undertaken over the past decade or so. When he was acquired, we were all kind of sitting around wondering what this quad-A player could do in New York. Brian Cashman clearly liked him, but the idea that he could be any more than an incremental improvement was hard to fathom.
Of course, all he’s done since coming to the Bronx is be probably the best first baseman in the American League. Regardless of what Cashman may say, no executive bets on that kind of 99th percentile outcome — he figured Voit would be good, and worth more than the two relievers dealt, but couldn’t have predicted he’d be as good a hitter as Freddie Freeman or Aaron Judge.