MLB trade rumors: Yankees’ Brian Cashman explains why Mets blockbuster is possible

Yankees general manager Brian Cashman explains why he’s not afraid to make blockbuster deal with the Mets.

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NEW YORK — In 2001, the Yankees and Mets made a blockbuster trade, sending slugger David Justice to the Bronx with third baseman Robin Ventura heading to Queens. Two years later, the Yankees sent prospects to the Mets for closer Armando Benitez. In 2004, the Yankees nabbed reliever Mike Stanton from the Mets in exchange for reliever Felix Heredia.

Brian Cashman was the Yankees’ general manager for all those trades.

He remembers them well and uses them as an example as to why he’d be open to making a blockbuster trade with the Mets, who has something he wants: top-rate starting pitching.

Before Friday’s game against the Red Sox at Yankee Stadium, Cashman was asked if there are too many external factors — from media scrutiny to fan reaction to simply not wanting to get one-upped by each other — for the Yankees and Mets to make a truly high-level deal.

Here’s what Cashman said:

“I did three different deals with three different (Mets) GMs over there the course of time. So, as far as I’m concerned, if the matches make sense, I don’t care who it was to be with, I would have dealt — when we were in a bad spot with a couple years ago when we had (Aroldis) Chapman and (Andrew) Miller, I would have done business with the Boston Red Sox. Our effort was to fight another day. Our day wasn’t today.

“So if the best business decisions happened to be with a rival, that was not a problem for me. My job is to do everything I can to improve the present, and if the present was gone, then fight for the future. But, again, I’m a director of baseball operations, there’s so many levels to this stuff, and from an ownership perspective, things are a lot different and you’re managing a whole bunch of different departments.”

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The Yankees have been seeking to improve their starting rotation, Cashman said. He’s got owner Hal Steinbrenner‘s blessing to make it happen.

The Mets are expected to receive lots of trade interest in Jacob deGrom and Noah Syndergaard — two starting pitchers who would be aces on most staffs.