JBF Week: Can we have Mike Lowell back?

In 1999, right before spring training, the Yankees acquired lefty SP prospect Ed Yarnall from the Marlins for 3B Mike Lowell. It honestly wasn't a bad trade at the time. Yarnall was a highly rated SP prospect, and Lowell was an up and coming 3B. The Yanks had just extended Scott Brosius, and didn't have an immediate need for Lowell.

Top prospect for top prospect. Not a bad deal, right? Plus, I had seen Yarnall when he was in AA (played for the Binghamton Mets before going to the Marlins in the Mike Piazza deal) and was a big fan of his.

Well, Yarnall never really amounted to much. He had a handful of appearances with the Yanks in 1999 and 2000, and then was sent to the Reds in the Denny Neagle deal.

Lowell, meanwhile, went on to be an All-Star, Gold Glove, and World Series winner in Florida, then was sent to Boston, where he was a key cog on the 2007 World Series team. Who knows what would have happened if he stayed in NY, but man, did that trade come back to haunt the Yanks!

JBF, thanks for the memory with this sweet auto!