When was first acquired by the Yankees, the baseball world was somewhat shocked and confused. It didn’t seem like a great fit for an already robust lineup with multiple DH types. But when Giancarlo Stanton got hurt, and then eventually Luke Voit, the trade looked like it made more and more sense. Cashman has no problem improving further upon team strengths, and it was hard to pass up on the resurgent AL home run leader for basically nothing but money in return.
The problem, however, is that Encarnacion’s resurgent season has halted upon arrival in New York.