In the final hours before last Friday’s 4 p.m. trade deadline, the Yankees nearly had three separate deals to send Luke Voit elsewhere. At about 3:30, it seemed that Voit was on the move to one undisclosed place, but the acquiring team pulled out of the deal, according to a person with direct knowledge of talks.

Voit remained a Yankee. And somewhat paradoxically, considering the team was so close to unloading him, the Yanks are perfectly happy to have him around.

"He's kind of like the NFL starting quarterback where he goes down early in the year, but by the time he gets back the position is now gone," Yankees GM Brian Cashman told someone named Jim Duquette on SiriusXM's MLB Network Radio Sunday.

"This guy obviously can help us. The lane that used to be so obvious currently isn't there, so obviously we are a lot deeper with everything we have. We have more choices, more protection because of it, but unfortunately right now he's going to get some at-bats and do what he does best (in rehab games), which is crush it, and then we'll see how he's going to fit as we move forward."

It was never that the front office didn’t like Voit -- it just didn’t know how reliable his health and production would be for the rest of the year, and had only one chance to address the issue. The team was talking to Colorado earlier in the week about shortstop Trevor Story, but didn’t hear back from the Rockies for several days.

Realizing that wasn’t happening, the Yanks quickly pivoted to the Chicago Cubs and Anthony Rizzo, a lefty -- and a more complete hitter and far better defender than Voit.

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