Guardians acquire outfielder in trade with Yankees

The Cleveland Guardians have agreed to terms on a deal with the New York Yankees that sees a pitcher heading to the Bronx in exchange for an outfielder. No, this is not a deal that includes Shane Bieber or a notable Yankees outfielder, but rather Cleveland's Cody Morris for New York's Estevan Florial. 

With the Guardians not looking to make major acquisitions via free agency, any type of addition to this roster was going to come via trade, and trades of the flier variety were more likely than anything big. Both teams have taken that angle, as Morris and Florial have both run out of chances with their former ballclubs and have been leapfrogged by others in the organization.

Cleveland has plenty of pitching in their system, so it was logical to deal from a position of depth in order to potentially bolster an area of clear weakness. Morris was not part of the Guardians' plans moving forward, and trading him for someone who also fits this description in Florial is a chance worth taking.

Florial is not necessarily the name anyone would like to see added to the Guardians' outfield at this moment in time, as most would prefer an established name with a proven track record. However, the uncertain financial situation and organizational penny-pinching, this was the type of deal that Cleveland is stuck with making at this time.

The 26-year-old outfielder has made a small handful of appearances for the Yankees at the major league level and was not able to make enough of an impact to stick around in New York. Florial has performed well in the minors, slashing .284/.380/.565 with 28 home runs, 23 doubles, and 79 RBI in 101 games last season. This has become a recurring theme for Florial, as it is clear that he has nothing left to prove in Triple-A.

Perhaps a relatively open outfield situation in Cleveland will allow Florial to take advantage of playing time he was not afforded while he was in the Yankees' organization. If things do not work out with Florial, the Guardians can always turn the page and look to the next internal option to hopefully provide some much-needed production in their mostly disappointing outfield configuration.