Yankees trade Aroldis Chapman, but it doesn’t mean they’re selling

1:26 PM ET

NEW YORK — The prospect of acquiring Aroldis Chapman for a quartet of so-so minor leaguers was too good for the New York Yankees to pass up last December.

Likewise, the prospect of trading Chapman for one of the top prospects in the game, as well as a proven major league pitcher who has been here before, is too good for them to pass up in July.

But that doesn’t necessarily mean the Yankees are in crash-and-burn mode. The lessons taught just a year ago should remind all of us that these days, a baseball season is not over by the end of July, and a new one can start as late as Aug. 1. Just ask the Toronto Blue Jays.

Whether the trade of Chapman for 19-year-old minor league shortstop Gleyber Torres, old reliable Adam Warren, minor league outfielder Billy McKinney and an unidentified fourth player is the start of a full-scale selloff remains to be seen. It is quite possible that the Yankees view Chapman the way I do, as a spare part, a tempting little toy to have in the bullpen but a bit of a redundancy when you already have Andrew Miller and Dellin Betances. Conceivably, the trade of Chapman could be their only major move of the trade deadline, MLB’s equivalent of Shark Week.

If, after moving Chapman, the Yankees make a trade for Miller, and Carlos Beltran, and Ivan Nova, and whomever else they can convince someone to take off their hands, then OK. They’re in Sell Mode.

Aroldis Chapman was a lot of fun to watch. But the Yankees didn’t need him — and got more value for him than they gave up. Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images

But maybe the plan is more modest than that and, at the same time, pointed toward what only a month ago seemed like chasing fool’s gold. Like actually going for it this year.

Maybe they plan to add a prospect like Torres with an eye to the future — he is still only in Double-A ball — because the Yankees aren’t entirely sold on Didi Gregorius. Or maybe they are planning to convert him to second or third base, because while Starlin Castro has been good, he’s still not the replacement for Robinson Cano, and the Chase Headley deal is not likely to be remembered as one of Brian Cashman’s finest.

Then …

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