It is time, once again, to go back and take a trip through the MLB Trade Rumors archives. We’re now in May 2011, so the season is well underway and teams have started to get serious about prep work leading up to the trade deadline. The Yankees lost Andy Pettitte (retirement) and Cliff Lee (signed with the Phillies) in the offseason, but did add Rafael Soriano.
The big story heading into May 2011 was CC Sabathia‘s impending opt-out clause. That was a thing all season. Sabathia was still a bonafide front of the rotation workhorse at the time, and the possibility of losing him to the opt-out clause was scary, particularly after missing out on Lee.