ESPN: Jack Flaherty’s failure is made more unpleasant by a Yankees insider’s trade deadline revelation.

It was obvious the Yankees would have to pay a huge price to acquire Jack Flaherty after the Houston Astros dealt three of their best prospects for Yusei Kikuchi.

Up until the day of the trade deadline, when it became evident that the Yankees wouldn’t acquire Flaherty unless they could also include a new back in the mix.

The Yankees were either “unable to match up” with Detroit or were too afraid of floating medicals to sign the best rental available on the market. As a result of their decision to forgo adding a starting pitcher, the Dodgers will now be strengthened by Flaherty and his 2.95 ERA. To complete the trade, they only had to give up one top-10 prospect, Tharon Liranzo, who is their third-best catcher, and one top-30 player, Trey Sweeney.

According to Bryan Hoch, Sweeney, a former Yankee, appeared to impress the Tigers, who weren’t overawed by any of the players the Yankees really kept in their top minor league. Regretfully, for those seeking a bright side, the Tigers scouts’ assessment of the Yankees’ system simply serves to strengthen the opinions of those who feel a trade still ought to have if there are injuries or not.

Allegedly, Detroit was only impressed with the Yankees’ “lower-level” prospects. In an all-in year with Juan Soto, the Yankees arguably should have compromised on a few marginal lower-level players given the type of Dodgers prospects needed to close this deal.

Even if Flaherty encounters a few roadblocks, the price doesn’t appear to have been too high. What if it transpires that they made the incorrect “lower level” prospect protection decision? Well, anything. The 2024 Yankees would have had a better chance of adding to their trophy cabinet in the interim, but the 2027 Tigers may be able to brag about their accomplishments against the 2027 Yankees.

All that’s left to do is focus on Los Angeles and see how Flaherty holds up from a distance. It remains to be seen if the Yankees were “pushing hard to finalize” a trade involving Flaherty after adding Jazz Chisholm on Saturday. Until Andy Martino writes his next book, we won’t find out who brokered the agreement.

We do know, however, that sticking onto lower-level prospects in a championship-or-bust season is risk-averse general manager behavior, particularly as the price of said prospects declines and their quality declines out of need.