June 9th, 2026: Wells, Schlittler, Chisholm, Jones, Weathers, Bednar, Trade Deadline Primer
Can’t lie to you, this is one of those days when I just don't have anything to say in the intro. Let’s get right into today’s post.
1. Weekend thoughts. Saturday’s rainout was clutch from a “the Yankees don’t have Aaron Judge or Max Fried or Giancarlo Stanton right now but they should when the game gets made up” standpoint. The Yankees did the crappy “let the fans in, let them spend money, then postpone it” thing, but, on the field, it was a good rainout. The game will be made up as part of a doubleheader on Saturday, Aug. 29th.
I didn’t pay too much attention to the last few innings of Monday’s win because I switched over to the Knicks, but hey, an extra innings win on the road! Those are rare for this team. Will Warren was dominant in the first and wobbly the rest of the way, then Aaron Boone managed his relievers like a kid managing all his new toys on Christmas morning. He didn’t know which one to play with, so he played with them all.
That catcher interference in the fifth inning is something I don’t ever remember seeing before. A catcher interference because the catcher’s mitt hit the batter’s foot (video)? It’s the right call though. MLB Rule 6.01(c) covers catcher interference:
The batter becomes a runner and is entitled to first base without liability to be put out (provided he advances to and touches first base) when the catcher or any fielder interferes with him. If a play follows the interference, the manager of the offense may advise the plate umpire that he elects to decline the interference penalty and accept the play. Such election shall be made immediately at the end of the play. However, if the batter reaches first base on a hit, an error, a base on balls, a hit batsman, or otherwise, and all other runners advance at least one base, the play proceeds without reference to the interference.
It’s vague enough that I can see a mitt to the foot qualifying as interference, and, honestly, “the catcher can’t make contact with the batter” is a pretty sensible rule. I’m fine with it. Well, whatever. That runner didn’t come around to score and the Yankees won the game. No harm, no foul. 3-3 in the first week without Judge. Could be better, could be worse. Here are a few thoughts on the last few games.
Escarra down, Sánchez up, Wells to the IL, Escarra back up
Good news: The Yankees finally dropped the nonsensical two lefty hitting catchers thing and called up a right-handed hitter. Bad news: Austin Wells is injured. The Yankees sent J.C. Escarra down in favor of Ali Sánchez after Friday’s game, then had to call Escarra right back up Saturday after Wells was placed on the 10-day IL. So, Wells was healthy enough Friday night to send down Escarra, but not Saturday.
“Late (Friday) night after Austin had come in, I had called J.C. to say, ‘Don’t go to Scranton yet.’ He was staying in New York and was kind of packing up his place and stuff,” Boone told Bryan Hoch. “… Catchers get hit, so it’s tough to say if it’s cumulative stuff. (Friday) night he noticed that he felt like just with his neck and headache stuff, so obviously we wanted to look into that.”
Wells is out with what the Yankees called cervical headaches, which the internet tells me are really a neck injury that presents as headaches. The treatment and recovery time depends on the root cause (arthritis, slipped disc, etc.). Wells has taken a beating behind the plate lately and I noticed he switched from a traditional catcher’s mask Wednesday to a hockey style mask Friday (he didn’t play Thursday) …
… but I didn’t think much of it. I just figured it was time for a new mask two months into the season. Wells said he used the new mask to limit discomfort and protect his neck. He tested negative for a concussion and is going through tests on his neck to determine the nature of the injury, how they’ll treat it, etc. How long he’ll be sidelined, I have no idea. The Yankees themselves probably don’t know right now.
“I think it just needs a couple days. Let the brain catch up a little bit and get back to work,” Wells told Greg Joyce. “… In my mind, it’s just the cumulative buildup over the last couple weeks, month, whatever it is. When you’re in it every day, you don’t really realize, but being out of it today, I felt better today already.”
I wrote a whole thing saying I wish the Yankees had sent Wells down instead of Escarra so he could reset in Triple-A, but that’s moot now. I threw that in the Content Graveyard, if you're interested. Wells has to get healthy before we can think about him getting on track at the plate. Did the injury play a role in his season-long slump? It could have, sure. Only Wells knows how long it’s been bugging him and how much it limited him.
The Escarra/Sánchez tandem is gonna get really old really quick. They’re gonna make 2026 Wells look like 2016 Gary Sánchez. The Yankees were in the market for a right-handed hitting catcher even before Wells got hurt, and depending on the severity of his injury, it might push them into the market for a legit starting catcher. I was already there before Wells got hurt. I don’t think the Yankees were, but they might be now.
Wells has been terrible at the plate but he’s important behind it. The pitchers love throwing to him. It’s one of those losses that is bigger than it appears on the surface. The Yankees are taking on a lot of water right now. They’re down their best player (Judge), arguably their best starter (Fried), their best DH (Stanton), their backup DH (Jasson Domínguez), and now their starting catcher. Yeesh.
When he was with YES, John Flaherty would occasionally mention that his neck bothers him most these days, not his knees. All those foul tips take a toll and head/neck injuries are scary stuff. For Wells’ sake, I hope it’s nothing serious and the injury explains his offensive decline. For the Yankees, adding a catcher just became an even greater need. If they can add one reasonably soon, they should.
(Last week Brian Cashman shot down the idea of putting Ben Rice behind the plate, telling Hoch it is “not something that’s on the radar right now.” Things are going great with Rice and this Wells injury shows you exactly why Rice shouldn’t catch. Leave him right where he is, please and thank you.)
Miscellany
Nothing major to cover the last few games other than the catching shuffle, so let’s hit on a few things quick hit style. Sound good? These aren’t in any particular order.
Cam Schlittler: Schlittler turned in his worst ever start against the Red Sox on Sunday: 5.2 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 5 K on 92 pitches (video). His velocity bounced back nicely. He sat 98.0 mph and topped out at 99.5 mph, and threw 11 pitches faster than his fastest pitch in either of his two previous starts. The foul ball rate on Schlittler’s four-seamer is trending up while the swinging strike rate trends down, which tells us hitters are geared up for it and he’s (probably) getting too predictable. He’s gone from 7% curveballs in April/May to 12% in two June starts. I bet that ticks up to 15% or even more in the coming weeks.
(I know I’m a broken record with this, but I wanted the Yankees to use Saturday’s rainout to push Schlittler back a day and give him extra rest. He instead stayed on turn and Warren was pushed back.)
Jazz Chisholm Jr.: Jazz went 0-for-3 with three strikeouts (and seven swings and misses!) against Ranger Suárez on Sunday, then hit a three-run homer in his fourth at-bat (video). He used Judge’s bat that fourth time up because, as he told Hoch, it’s so damn big that it puts him in the mindset of “control the barrel and just try to touch the ball instead of trying to hit it so hard.” Chisholm is using Stanton’s pants and Judge’s bat. This will be him when he starts using Ben Rice’s jockstrap:
Did Jazz ask Judge for permission to use his bat? Nope. "It's like a big brother, little brother thing," he told Deesha Thosar. I can relate.
Spencer Jones: Jones went 3-for-3 with a double in his first game back Friday (video) and all three hits were ground balls. The exit velocities: 110.6 mph, 88.7 mph (double), 95.5 mph. Not Stantonian ground balls, but hit reasonably hard enough to get through the infield. Jones hits the ball so hard that it has a chance to go for a hit whenever he puts a ball in play. Please do that more, Spencer.
Ryan Weathers: Two more homers allowed Friday. He’s given up seven homers in his last four starts (25 innings) after giving up six homers in his first eight starts (45 innings). Weathers has allowed five runs in three of his last four starts. Entering Monday, he had the ninth highest HR/9 (1.67) and fifth highest HR/FB (17.8%) among 67 qualified starters. The dingeritis is becoming a real issue.
Anthony Volpe: Since going 2-for-6 with seven walks against the Mets, Volpe is 10-for-50 (.200) with three walks. He’s down to .203/.319/.305 (84 wRC+) in 18 games, and his at-bat against Aroldis Chapman on Friday was maybe the worst at-bat of the season:
The Volpe experience is exasperating. I can’t believe we’re doing this again.
Cody Bellinger: Bellinger hit the go-ahead home run in the eighth inning Sunday (video) and the guy has been an absolute megastar at Yankee Stadium. In 31 home games, he’s hitting .358/.442/.698 (209 wRC+) with seven homers and almost twice as many walks (14.7%) as strikeouts (7.8%). I’m mentioning this only to note that Judge posted a 204 wRC+ overall from 2022-25. Bellinger has been so great at home this year and it’s more or less as great as Judge was all the time from 2022-25. I’m not trying to diminish Bellinger in any way. He’s been terrific and he’s making all of us in the “sign Kyle Tucker!” camp look stupid. This is more of a Judge appreciation thing. Man is that guy good when he’s healthy.
David Bednar: Before going back-to-back the last two days, Bednar pitched only twice in the previous 12 days and it looks like that little break served him well. His velocity has ticked up closer to 97 mph the last few times out rather than the 95s we saw previously. Between the World Baseball Classic and his regular season usage, Bednar’s workload has been so heavy early this year that about a month ago I suggested a little 15-day IL vacation to rest up. The Yankees didn’t do that, but Bednar didn’t pitch much the last two weeks. That’s the next best thing.
Paul Goldschmidt: Monday’s homer (video) was Goldschmidt’s third off a righty this season, matching last year’s total. He hasn’t been good against righties (.188/.244/.338 including Monday’s homer), but he’s doing all he can with first Stanton and now Judge sidelined. It takes a village without those two.
Injury updates and roster news
Aaron Judge (rib) said he believes he initially suffered his injury on a diving play against the Astros back in April. It has to be this play. It’s the only dive he made that series. Broken rib on a dive with the Yankees down 7-0? Fantastic. Remember kids, never hustle …Max Fried (elbow) increased his throwing and will have more tests this week to determine if he can get back up on a mound. Basically, he’s playing catch at longer distances, and they scan his elbow every week to check on the healing. They’ll keep doing that until Fried gets the okay to start throwing for real … Jasson Domínguez (shoulder) started a rehab assignment with Scranton over the weekend. He went 0-for-4 as the DH on Friday, sat Saturday, went 0-for-3 and played five innings in left field Sunday, then Monday was the universal off-day in the minors. As I understand it, the plan is to play Tuesday and Wednesday, then re-evaluate … Possible bullpen candidate Eric Reyzelman was placed on Scranton’s 7-day IL over the weekend. Gary Phillips says it’s another back injury for Reyzelman, who had his fourth back surgery last year. No word how long he’ll be sidelined … And finally, some roster housekeeping: Ali Sánchez stepped into the final open 40-man roster spot. The Yankees will need a spot when Clarke Schmidt comes off the 60-day IL, but that’s months away and not worth worrying about. My guess is Kervin Castro is at the front of the DFA line.
Up next
The final two games in Cleveland, an off-day, then a weekend in Toronto. I still consider the Blue Jays the biggest threat in the AL East. They’ve got a lot of guys on rehab assignments inching closer to a return (Addison Barger, Shane Bieber, Dylan Cease, Alejandro Kirk, Max Scherzer) and there’s a lot of season left. That’s a topic for Friday’s post though. Here is the week until then:
Tuesday at Guardians: RHP Gerrit Cole vs. RHP Slade Cecconi (6:30pm ET on Amazon, TBS)
Wednesday at Guardians: LHP Carlos Rodón vs. LHP Parker Messick (1pm ET on YES)
Thursday: off-day
The Yankees will see Cecconi for the second time in less than a week tonight. It would be swell to put a hurtin’ on him, get length of Cole, save the bullpen, and cruise to an easy win. Or they could play another nail-biter against a pesky Guardians team. Either works, as long as the Yankees win.
2. 2026 trade deadline primer. This summer’s trade deadline is 6pm ET on Monday, Aug. 3rd, which is about an hour before first pitch between the Yankees and Cardinals in the Bronx. Rob Manfred can set the trade deadline any day between July 28th and Aug. 3rd. He picks a day with a light schedule to minimize roster disruptions, and it just so happens the Yankees will play one of that day’s eight games. So it goes.
The Yankees are active every year at the trade deadline and there’s no reason to think this year will be different. Looking only at moves that brought in MLB players (i.e. guys who stepped right onto the big league roster), here are the number of trades the Yankees have made at the last few deadlines:
2025: 7 (David Bednar, Jake Bird, José Caballero, Camilo Doval, Ryan McMahon, Amed Rosario, Austin Slater)
2024: 3 (Jazz Chisholm Jr., Enyel De Los Santos, Mark Leiter Jr.)
2023: 1 (Keynan Middleton)
2022: 4 (Harrison Badler, Andrew Benintendi, Scott Effross, Frankie Montas/Lou Trivino)
2021: 4 (Joey Gallo/Joely Rodríguez, Andrew Heaney, Clay Holmes, Anthony Rizzo)
The hit rate definitely isn’t great, but the Yankees always made an effort to improve the roster at the trade deadline. The only time they didn’t in the last five years was 2023, when they were fading out of the race and it didn’t make sense to sacrifice prospects for a quick fix. (They could/should have made trades with an eye on the long-term though.) Trades will be made at the deadline. I have little doubt.
“I’m always open-minded to ways to try to figure things out and make us better. That’s my job,” Brian Cashman said about the deadline last week (video). “Me, with our staff, and I’ll advise Hal Steinbrenner with anything that presents itself along the way … Obviously our quest is still the same.”
Before we begin diving into specific targets, let’s take a lay of the land and see what the Yankees need at the deadline and who they could trade to get it. Things change often in this game. If we circle back in a month, the needs and possible trade chips could change. We’ll deal with it if we have to. Let’s get to into this year’s deadline primer.
Needs
I’m going to say something that should not be controversial: The Yankees are a very good team, and it’s not that easy to improve teams that are already very good. When you pay attention to one team and watch every game, you see every little imperfection, and your perception of how much of a problem those imperfections are can be skewed. I’m telling you, there are a lot of – A LOT – of bad to mediocre baseball teams out there.
Like everyone else, the Yankees have roster holes and weaknesses, just not as many and not as glaring. I’m gonna rank the deadline needs in rough order of importance, but if the Yankees get the second thing before the first thing, that’s fine. You can go down Aisle 2 before you go down Aisle 1. Just make sure you don’t forget anything. Here are the things that must be addressed at the deadline.
1. Bullpen. The clear No. 1 deadline need. The bullpen’s numbers are strong overall (3.51 ERA, 3.71 FIP, 3.33 xERA), but, as a unit, it ranks 13th with 22.2 K% and 12th with a 26.3% whiff rate. The bullpen could use more swing-and-miss ability, which is especially handy when you’ve got ducks on the pond in the late innings of a close game. You want to get out of that without relying on your defense, you know?
I think the bare minimum is one late-inning reliever. Someone who can lighten the setup load on Fernando Cruz (doesn’t it feel like he warms up every night?) and take save opportunities from time to time. Ideally, the Yankees would add two relievers. They did in 2025 (Bednar, Bird, Doval), 2024 (De Los Santos, Leiter), 2022 (Effross, Trivino), and 2021 (Holmes, Rodríguez). It’s not an unreasonable request.
Figuring out which reliever will be effective in their next 15-20 innings is almost impossible, but that’s the job at the trade deadline. I’d prefer someone with pedigree, not someone you have to fix or coach up, but the market is the market. At least one late-inning reliever who can miss bats is a must and the Yankees could use two, really. This is atop the deadline shopping list though. Bullpen help.
2. Catcher. The Yankees were said to be seeking a righty hitting catcher even before Austin Wells got hurt, and now they might need more than a platoon partner. They might need an entirely new starting catcher. Teams don’t like to bring in new catchers in the middle of the season because there’s so much they have to pick up, but if the Wells injury is serious, I don’t think the Yankees will have a choice.
Even if Wells’ injury proves to be minor and he can return in, say, two weeks, I still think the Yankees should aim high and look for a new starting catcher, not just a platoon partner. The bottom of the lineup is so very bad and the most straightforward way to improve it is a new catcher. The bar is on the floor. Find a 100 wRC+ hitter (much easier said than done, obviously) and that’s a significant improvement.
3. Left side of the infield. We’re in wish list territory now. Bullpen and catcher help are must haves. A shortstop and/or third baseman is something I would like – I think José Caballero/Anthony Volpe and Ryan McMahon are bottom 10 regulars at their positions – but might not be doable. The Yankees have only so many trade chips and good infielders are in short supply. (Who’s even available?)
The bottom of the order kills rally after rally and the Yankees have to do something there, because big moments are gonna find McMahon and Caballero/Volpe in the postseason. If you can do better on the left side of the infield, do it. A new catcher would boost the bottom of the order, but there are a lot of at-bats down there. Shortstop and third base should not be considered settled. If you can upgrade, upgrade.
4. Outfield? This will depend on Aaron Judge’s outlook. He’ll be re-evaluated in 4-6 weeks, so we’ll have more clarity on his status well before the trade deadline. If the rib is healing well and Judge is on track to return in August, great. The Yankees won’t need an outfielder. But, if he’s healing slowly (speaking from experience, 34-year-olds don’t heal as quickly as 24-year-olds), the Yankees may have to act.
“No, I don’t think so,” Cashman said about Judge’s injury factoring into the deadline plans (video). “I guess it’s a good question because it’s something I didn’t consider, but if we expect him back, which we do, then I don’t see why that would impact something for the deadline. We just gotta hold the fort. Hold that spot nice and warm for him when he returns.”
Even if things go well with Judge, you could argue the Yankees need a righty hitting outfielder to platoon with Trent Grisham (though he’s crawled up to a 106 wRC+ vs. LHP). Jasson Domínguez and/or Spencer Jones could lessen the need for an outfielder, but, if Judge is out longer term, the Yankees will at least have to scour the market for a more proven option.
Trade chips
The Yankees should trade bad players for good players. Those are the best trades and the Yankees make a lot of those, no? If nothing else, they rarely miss players they traded away. Who do they miss? I guess you could argue Oswald Peraza given the season he’s having, but he didn’t show the Yankees anything when he was here. Ezequiel Duran five years after he was traded? Does Mike King count?
During the Judge era, the list of players the Yankees traded away who have come back to haunt them is quite short. They’re not perfect, but they’re pretty good at knowing who to keep and who to trade. Let’s now dive into the players the Yankees could move (or could look to move) at the deadline.
MLB roster players. The Yankees want to add to their roster, not subtract from it, but sometimes there’s a give and take. Jordan Montgomery for Harrison Bader is the best recent deadline example of this. I don’t think the Yankees will trade Will Warren or Ryan Weathers, but I can’t say for certain they won’t. Would the Yankees move Domínguez or Volpe? I think Domínguez is far more likely to go.
Trading Grisham or Jazz Chisholm Jr., two free-agents-to-be, is extremely unlikely. Both have been much better the last few weeks and, realistically, the Yankees won’t be able to replace them with anyone they can comfortably expect to outperform those two the rest of the season. Good middle infielders and good center fielders are in short supply. Either of those two going anywhere would be a huge surprise (to me, anyway).
One MLB player who I think could move: Camilo Doval, most likely as a way to offset salary. He’s making $6.1M this season and, if the Yankees have to take on money to get a catcher or a better reliever, Doval could be redirected elsewhere to make it work. Tyler Clippard, Caleb Ferguson, and Justin Wilson were all dealt away at the deadline for money reasons during the Judge era. It could be Doval this year.
Top prospects. The Yankees very rarely trade their tippy top prospects. During the Judge era they’ve traded only four players who were ranked as top 100 prospects by Baseball America at the time of the trade: Blake Rutherford (Todd Frazier/Tommy Kahnle/David Robertson), Jorge Mateo (Sonny Gray), Justus Sheffield (James Paxton), and Drew Thorpe (Juan Soto). That’s it. Four traded top 100 guys.
Furthermore, Paxton and Soto were offseason trades. Rutherford and Mateo are the only two who were traded as top 100 guys at the deadline. That isn’t to say the Yankees won’t trade any top 100 prospects in the coming weeks, just that it would be a pretty big zig after so many years of zagging. Baseball America (subs. req’d) ranked four Yankees in the June update of their top 100:
No. 12: SS George Lombard Jr.No. 44: RHP Elmer RodríguezNo. 45: SS Dax KilbyNo. 64: RHP Carlos Lagrange
How the Yankees rank those players and other prospects internally, I don’t know. For all we know they might like Ben Hess more than ER(C). Generally speaking though, this is the group of prospects the Yankees are unlikely to move at the deadline. Are they untouchable? No, no one is, but they’re only going to move for real difference-makers. Someone the Yankees believe will put them over the top.
Other prospects. This is the group the Yankees purge every summer. They traded 16 (!) prospects at the deadline last year and the best of the bunch was C Rafael Flores, who was a top 10-ish prospect in the system. The farm system isn’t in the best shape right now, but there are always prospects to trade. Let’s lump them into three buckets:
- Grade B-C pitchers: Seven of the 16 prospects the Yankees traded last deadline fit into this bucket and it’s a renewable resource. There’s a new Carlos De La Rosa (Doval) or Griffin Herring (McMahon) or Ben Shields (Bird) every summer. The Yankees are quite good at turning under-the-radar pitchers into tradable prospects. Kyle Carr, Jack Cebert, and Allen Facundo are examples of this kinda prospect.
- Sell high candidates: “Sell high” might not be the right term. These are prospects having a great year that may not align with their prospect stock. Think Jace Avina, who’s hitting .276/.358/.583 (145 wRC+) in Double-A, but still projects as a platoon outfielder. Garrett Martin and his .258/.317/.556 (126 wRC+) Double-A slash line and 19 homers (fourth in the minors) is another example. They’re prospects other teams may value more than the Yankees.
- Rookie ballers: Everyone wants the breakout prospect before he breaks out. De La Rosa (Doval) and Browm Martinez (Rosario) were traded as rookie ballers last summer. Richard Matic, Stiven Marinez, Juan Torres, and Francisco Vilorio all ranked among my Top 30 Prospects in February, though there is a seemingly endless supply of rookie ball kids. Any of them could be moved.
Rule 5 Draft eligibles. The Yankees and every other team look to trade away players who have to go on the 40-man roster after the season but they might not have room for, they might not want to add, etc. They try to trade the guy at the deadline rather than risk losing him for nothing in the Rule 5 Draft in December. Here are the notable prospects who will be Rule 5 Draft eligible after the season:
Catchers: Engelth Urena
Infielders: Roderick Arias, Enmanuel Tejeda
Outfielders: Jace Avina, Garrett Martin
Righties: Carson Coleman, Carlos Lagrange, Sean Paul Liñan, Eric Reyzelman, Cade Smith
Lefties: Kyle Carr, Allen Facundo, Franyer Herrera, Henry Lalane, Brock Selvidge
I don’t want to turn this into a Rule 5 protection preview but, to me, Facundo and Lagrange are the only must-adds in that group (Lagrange could get called up this season, before the protection deadline in November). There’s a lot of overlap with the prospect groups we just discussed, and Rule 5 status could lead to the Yankees pushing, say, Avina and Carr and Smith in trades in July. They figure to be on the 40-man bubble after the season.
It takes two to tango. Other teams have to want your prospects and, in the case of Rule 5 guys, they have to consider them worth a 40-man spot. That’s not always a given with non-elite prospects. If the Yankees take Kilby, Lagrange, Lombard, and Rodríguez off the table as their best prospects, then Hess, Cebert, and Spencer Jones are most likely to go. Their other prospects are only so valuable.
The system is pitching heavy at the moment and you don’t have to take my word for it. In their May 20th update, Baseball America (subs. req’d) had 16 pitchers among their top 20 Yankees prospects, and 21 pitchers among their top 30. The numbers and the fact everyone wants pitching suggest the Yankees will dip into their pitching reserves at the deadline.
(Force me to plant a flag and I’ll say Jones, Doval, and Hess are most likely to be traded in that order, with Doval going for salary offset reasons more than anything. No inside info here. Just a guess.)
Quick hit targets
In the coming weeks I’ll go more in-depth on possible trade targets like I do every summer. Here quickly are a few guys who could become available, could make sense, etc.
RHP Bryan Abreu and 3B Isaac Paredes, Astros: Abreu has been so bad this season and his velocity (and stuff in general) has been down. He was once one of the best relievers in the game. Now he’s a project. Paredes is a poor fit for Yankee Stadium as an extreme pull righty, but he also clears the “better than McMahon” bar, and he would give the Yankees a needed righty bat. I guess Josh Hader is another Astro who could possibly move. I just have a hard time believing the Yankees will take on a reliever who is owed $19M a year through 2028, especially given the CBA uncertainty.
C Ryan Jeffers, Twins: I answered a(nother) mailbag question about Jeffers last week, so I will refer you back to that. As of last week, he had not yet begun to swing a bat as part of his hamate surgery rehab.
C Carson Kelly, Cubs: The Cubs are 7-20 since their second 10-game winning streak ended last month. I don’t expect them to sell because a Wild Card spot is still within reach, plus throwing in the towel on the season would probably cost some people their jobs. Chicago has three catchers though (Kelly, Miguel Amaya, Moisés Ballesteros), and Kelly’s a rental. They badly need pitching, both starters and relievers, and especially guys they can keep in 2027. Is there a Doval for Kelly trade to be made? Hmmm.
LHP Daniel Lynch and LHP Matt Strahm, Royals: Strahm’s a rental, Lynch is controllable through 2028. Strahm is the more recognizable name, Lynch is the better pitcher. He’s a strikeout guy (27.1 K%) but his platoon split is pretty big, and the Yankees already have a lefty reliever with a big platoon split (Tim Hill). Lynch could be a target though, sure. Kris Bubic is working his way back from an elbow issue and has bullpen experience, but you’ll probably have to pay starter prices to get him.
Marlins relievers: They’ve got rentals (Pete Fairbanks), they’ve got guys with multiple years of control (Anthony Bender), they’ve got hard-throwers (Michael Peterson), they’ve got funkballers (Lake Bachar), they’ve got righties (Calvin Faucher), they’ve got lefties (John King). Fairbanks has not been good and his stuff has been down, plus the Yankees typically trade for relievers they can keep beyond the current season. Feels like there’s a bullpen trade to be made with the Marlins.
Padres relievers: Going into Monday, San Diego had lost 11 of 13 and fallen out of a postseason spot. They’re hitting .214/.289/.355 (85 wRC+) as a team. Could you imagine watching an entire team hit like Volpe (career .222/.285/.377 and 85 wRC+)? I don’t expect San Diego to do a full tear down/rebuild even if they continue to spiral, but they have a few rentals they could move for guys with control beyond 2026, specifically Jason Adam and Adrian Morejon. Adam’s under-the-hood numbers aren't great. Morejon is a monster. One of the best relievers in the game. I know the Yankees don’t like rental relievers, but if the Padres put Morejon out there, they have to try. They won’t get a better reliever at the deadline.
RHP Antonio Senzatela, Rockies: The Rockies are showing signs of competence under POBO Paul DePodesta. Their new pitching folks have tweaked things with several of their guys, including Senzatela, who added a cutter that has become a go-to pitch. It also helps that he added three ticks of velocity with the move to the bullpen. Senzatela is not the high strikeout reliever the Yankees need (21.4 K%), but he’ll surely be available. (His contract includes a $14M club option for next year. Hard to see that getting picked up even as good as he’s been this year.)
LHP Tarik Skubal, Tigers: The Tigers have begun to play better (5-1 in their last six), but they’re still 27-39 overall and 5.5 games out of a Wild Card spot with seven teams ahead of them. The winning has to continue right through the trade deadline to justify keeping Skubal, I think. I know starting pitching is not a need right now, but Skubal is a difference-maker who could swing the AL East race and a postseason series. The Yankees would have to at least check in and I’m certain they will. (Skubal made his first and possibly only rehab start this past weekend. He dominated.)
3. 2026 draft prospect: Texas OF Aiden Robbins. The 2026 MLB Draft will take place the weekend before the All-Star break and the Yankees hold the No. 35 pick. As I do every year, I’ll preview prospects the Yankees are said to have interest in, players who fit the team’s M.O., and players I like for whatever reason. Here are the draft prospects I’ve already covered.
Robbins, 21, played two years at Seton Hall before transferring to Texas. He’s hit everywhere he’s played, including a .342/.435/.720 (143 wRC+) line with 24 home runs in 57 games this spring. That slash line comes with a 22.1 K% though, which is elevated for a potential first round college bat. Here’s where Robbins placed in the most recent draft rankings:
Baseball America (subs. req’d): No. 18
ESPN: No. 21
FanGraphs: Outside top 40
Keith Law (subs. req’d): No. 85
MLB Pipeline: No. 30
Robbins also hit .323/.390/.543 in two summers against top competition in the wood bat Cape Cod League, albeit with a 28.3 K%. (The Cape average was a .240/.343/.337 line with 22.8 K% last year.) Everywhere the kid has played, he’s performed. Here’s video and here’s a chunk of MLB Pipeline’s free scouting report:
Becoming more aggressive has allowed Robbins to tap into increased power, as he's chasing pitches more often but also driving them in the air much more frequently and hitting them harder and farther than ever before. His quick right-handed swing allows him to catch up to and destroy fastballs, though his new mindset has left him vulnerable to breaking balls and changeups. He holds his hands and back elbow high at the plate and balances briefly on his back leg before unleashing an uppercut stroke, a nontraditional approach … While Robbins produces lackluster run times out of the batter's box, he's an average runner with a knack for stealing and taking extra bases. A corner outfielder at Seton Hall and on the Cape, he has played a decent center field for Texas. He'll get a chance to man center in pro ball but likely will wind up back in left or right, and his average arm strength works at all three spots.
To give you an idea how inexact the draft science is, Baseball America (subs. req’d) says Robbins has “a hit-over-power profile” while Keith Law (subs. req’d) calls him “power over hit.” Jacob Rudner (subs. req’d) looked at the top college bats in April and noted Robbins was running a 92mph average exit velocity and a 107mph 90th percentile exit velocity, both of which are excellent. The 30% whiff rate? Not so much.
Robbins is a bit of a project (I could see a team believing they can reduce the whiffs by getting his hands down into a more traditional position) and if your development folks happen to like him, then he’s your guy. You have to take the best players in the first round, you’re doing yourself a disservice if you draft for need, but there is such a dearth of right-handed hitting outfielders in baseball right now that I wonder if position scarcity will push Robbins up some draft boards, almost similar to what happens with catchers.
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