Can Yankees get back on track for World Series at MLB trade deadline?
Jazz Chisholm Jr. of the Yankees strikes out during the sixth inning against the Tampa Bay Rays at Yankee Stadium on Monday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
The Yankees, incredibly, are playing like a team that could be home come October. That’s not hyperbole, either, because after sleepwalking through Monday night’s 4-2 loss to the Rays, they still own the AL’s top wild-card position, but it’s now a race that involves four teams separated by a single game in the standings.
Forget the AL East. With Thursday’s trade deadline looming, and Aaron Judge’s indefinite absence haunting them, this is turning into a matter of survival for the Yankees, who managed only two hits and zero runs after the first inning Thursday.
“Obviously, ultimately, we would like to be probably in a better spot,” Cody Bellinger said afterward. “But it’s just kind of where we’re at right now.”
The Yankees have been trending in the wrong direction for a while now, both in the standings and personnel-wise, so that begs the question for this $313 million roster: Is it possible to put this group back on a World Series trajectory by Thursday’s 6 p.m. trade deadline? And with Aaron Judge on the shelf for another nine days, then reduced to being a DH for an undetermined time beyond that, have the Yankees otherwise shown enough to convince GM Brian Cashman this group deserves major reinforcements?
“There’s so many machinations going on up there, so many conversations from 30 teams,” Boone said of the front office, “that’s tough to say. We’re always trying to prove ourselves all the time. We’ve gone through a couple months now where we just played OK and we know we need to play good baseball here to get to where we want to go. So our focus is doing that every day — not necessarily prove anything.”
Playing OK would suggest mediocre, or maybe .500 ball. But the Yankees have been far worse, with a 15-24 record since June 13, fewer wins than the White Sox (16-22) over that span and only one better than the Rockies (14-23).
On Monday, Cam Schlittler’s pitch count skyrocketed early with three walks in the first inning, the big blow coming when Junior Caminero smacked a hanging slider into the leftfield seats for a two-run homer. Since June 13, the Yankees’ rotation has a 4.22 ERA, which ranks 15th in the majors, while the relief corps has sagged to new lows — their 5.06 ERA over that span was the seventh-worst.
So far, Cashman has yet to upgrade his pitching staff, the only significant import being Schlittler, who made his MLB debut right before the All-Star break. Schlittler (4.35 ERA, 8.7 K/9 entering Monday) had impressed in his first two starts — there was a slight delay after the break due to forearm tightness — and he has a chance to stick in the rotation, with Marcus Stroman and Will Warren on shaky ground (the expectation is for Luis Gil to rejoin the rotation next month).
The other option, of course, is to use Schlittler as a trade chip for a more experienced front-line starter and/or controllable, closer-quality bullpen arms. As of Monday afternoon, a source said the Yankees were more inclined to keep Schlittler, but with 72 hours to go before the deadline, that mindset is always subject to change.
From the Yankees’ perspective, it didn’t help matters that two sensible targets, in areas of need, came off the board during the previous 24 hours. The first was Seth Lugo, a perfect rental candidate who instead agreed on a two-year, $46 million contract extension Sunday night to stay put with the Royals.
The other was Emmanuel Clase, who went from being perhaps the top closer on the market to ensnared in a Guardians’ gambling investigation that now has him sidelined, on non-disciplinary leave, through Aug. 31. The flame-throwing Clase had even more value considering that he was under control for two more years after this season — on a pair of $10 million team options. But he now could be looking at a much longer suspension if Clase is implicated with fellow Guardians bullpen mate Luis Oritz, who already was under investigation for allegedly throwing pitches according to prop bets.
Not only is Clase off the table, his absence tightens up the rest of the relief market, pushing up the prices. The Yankees have been scouting both the Guardians and Twins, but it’s probably wise to stay away from Cleveland’s radioactive bullpen at this point. Minnesota has two highly coveted relievers in Jhoan Duran and Griffin Jax, and with the Twins (50-55) falling off the playoff bubble at 5 1⁄2 games back in the wild card, they’d be smart to move both.
Duran, who has a 1.86 ERA in 48 appearances, is earning $4.1 million this year and doesn’t hit free agency until after the 2027 season. Jax’s 14.00 K/9 rate is second-best among qualified MLB relievers, behind only the Yankees’ Fernando Cruz (14.73), and he’s making $2.4 million this year — also under team control through 2027.
On Friday, Cashman acted quickly to fill the Yankees’ most glaring need by trading for Ryan McMahon, and the former Rockies third baseman made the GM look good in his first two games. McMahon delivered a tying two-run double Sunday along with a pair of defensive gems, providing the capable glovework missing from the position before his arrival.
Cashman soon followed up the McMahon trade by acquiring Amed Rosario from the Nationals, giving the Yankees a super-utility bat that mashes lefty pitching (.299 BA, .816 OPS). Both McMahon and Rosario were big boxes to check for the Yankees, but as of Monday night, the job wasn’t finished. If the Yankees plan to do more than tread water during Judge’s indefinite absence, they’ll need to do better on the run-prevention front, and that means bullpen reinforcements — typically a Cashman specialty this time of year.
David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.
