In 2012, the Yankees didn't make an blockbuster trades, but they did make two trades that ended up shaping the team for the next two seasons. This was the season where they acquired Chris Stewart and Ichiro Suzuki and got rid of A.J. Burnett. They also traded Chad Qualls for Casey McGehee, but that, thankfully, didn't involved any prospects.
The Yankees traded for Ichiro Suzuki at the 2012 deadline, a deal that ended up being great, but re-signing him turned out to be not so great. He hit .322/.340/.454 with five home runs and 14 stolen bases for them, which made it seem like re-signing him could be a good idea.
The Yankees had just selected Danny Farquhar off waivers from the Oakland Athletics a month before they decided to ship him off to the Mariners. He had already had a brief call up in 2011 with the Blue Jays, but 2013 is when he got his real shot in the majors as a 26-year-old. He pitched to a 4.20 ERA and 1.86 FIP with a 3.56 BB/9 and a 12.77 K/9. He actually ended up as the team's closer in the second half and collected 16 Saves.
After making his major league debut for the Yankees, D.J. Mitchell's career completely bombed. In 2012, he had a 2.96 ERA, but a 4.15 FIP, 6.10 K/9, and a 3.51 BB/9 in eight starts for the Mariners' Triple-A affiliate. This season he was quickly released by the Mariners and signed on with the Mets where he had a disastrous 7.77 ERA and 5.38 FIP in Triple-A.
The Yankees traded for Chris Stewart on the last day of spring training 2012, probably just to make Francisco Cervelli feel bad. In two seasons with the Yankees he has been a .221/.293/.287 below-average hitter.
To get Stewart, they gave up George Kontos, who had just made his debut in 2011. Since then he's pitched in nearly 100 innings over the last two seasons. He had a great 2012, pitching to a 2.47 ERA and 2.80 FIP, but 2013 was a little disappointing when he put up a 4.39 ERA and 4.08 FIP.
The Yankees may not end up missing any of these players in the long run, but Farquhar and Kontos could have been useful.
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