You never want to lose talented young players for absolutely nothing. After all, the Yankees were lucky to have Mike Ford and Nestor Cortes returned to the organization after being selected by the Mariners and Orioles, respectively, in the 2017 Rule 5 Draft.
Therefore, over the past few winters, general manager Brian Cashman has creatively traded some mid-level prospects on the 40-man roster for younger, lesser developed talent.
In 2016, the Yanks sent Ben Gamel to Seattle for pitchers Jio Orozco and Juan De Paula. Then a year later, Cashman swung another deal with the Mariners, swapping Nick Rumbelow for Juan Then and JP Sears.