The incessant speculation about what the Yankees could get in a hypothetical Clint Frazier trade can finally be put to bed.
The club released Frazier and Rougned Odor on Tuesday, four days after they were designated for assignment. The Yankees were able to work out a trade for Tyler Wade, the other player DFA’d on Friday, sending him to the Angels for a player to be named later or cash considerations. The lack of a trade market for Frazier speaks to just how far his stock has fallen.
As recently as 2017, Frazier was considered the second-best prospect in the Yankees’ system and one of the very best in the game. Getting him as the jewel in their Andrew Miller trade, the Yankees envisioned Frazier holding down an outfield spot for years on end. That never came to fruition, as Frazier struggled mightily in his first 142 plate appearances as a rookie, posting an abysmal .268 on-base percentage. In 2019, a 24-year-old Frazier hit .267/.317/.489 in 246 plate appearances, an improvement, but not enough to make the team confident in his long-term outlook.
Frazier’s best year was 2020, which will forever make Yankee fans wonder what could have been if the COVID-19 pandemic hadn’t shrunken that season to 60 games. The rebound from that year was rough. As fans returned to the stadium and the schedule added over 100 games, Frazier became the second-worst outfielder in the league (minimum 200 plate appearances) by Wins Above Replacement.
His final season in the Bronx will be remembered for its strangeness, as the Yankees initially diagnosed Frazier with vertigo before ruling that out and saying the problems stemmed from more general vision problems. During a rehab assignment in August, Frazier pulled himself from a game and was officially shut down in September.
The Odor news is less of a surprise, as he was always viewed as a one-year experiment. Odor provided some necessary left-handed thump
