Time will tell whether the Yankees got what they paid for when they traded relief pitchers Aroldis Chapman to the Cubs and Andrew Miller to the Indians in July with an eye on prospects for the future.
But in the short term the man who let them go, Yankees general manager Brian Cashman, could not help but marvel at what they gave their new teams up to and including the World Series.
Chapman blew a save for the Cubs in Game 7 operating under a heavier-than-usual workload, but he ended up the winning pitcher.
"Aroldis Chapman and Andrew Miller, they gave everything they had and then some," Cashman said Thursday before being honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award at The ALS Association Greater New York Chapter's Lou Gehrig Sports Awards Benefit in Manhattan.
"They went above and beyond, obviously, on behalf of their teams. That's a big reason why their teams were where they were and they were all playing in Game 7. Very special, talented individuals that obviously earned the right to have a lot of accolades thrown their way, to be performing under that type of pressure. It's pretty impressive.
"That's why the Chicago Cubs stepped up and that's why the Cleveland Indians stepped up at the trade deadline when we thought we had to do what we did, to give up the present to have a better future.
"We have to wait on that from our end and wait for our future to be delivered down the line. But they certainly got what they bargained for in the present. It was an epic, world champion effort by the Cubs and the Indians, although I wish we were in there fighting it out ourselves."
Cashman did not directly address whether he would like to re-sign Chapman as a free agent for 2017, other than to acknowledge the Yankees' top offseason priority is "pitching, pitching, pitching."
