Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
If the New York Yankees want to catch up to the Tampa Bay Rays and Boston Red Sox in the AL East standings, here are three trades the team can make to blow up the deadline.
The New York Yankees‘ start to the 2021 season has been eventful, to say the least. Given what they did this past offseason, the expectation was that the Yankees would be ranked at the top of the American League standings. Instead, they currently sit in third place in the AL East division.
Given that this is the Yankees, it’s hard to imagine them selling at the MLB trade deadline. Given that they are five games above .500 and there being a couple of months remaining in the season, the Yankees can turn things around. If New York’s play has shown us anything thus far, it is that there’s a huge gap between themselves and the Tampa Bay Rays and Boston Red Sox in terms of production.
Here are three prototypical Yankee trades the team can make to blow up the deadline.
3.
Richard Rodriguez
RP Pittsburgh Pirates
Let’s preface by saying that yes, the Yankees already have a closer in Aroldis Chapman. But the back-end of their bullpen has taken a hit due to injuries. Darren O’Day and Justin Wilson are about to return from the injured list shortly, but the team received a big hit in regards to Zack Britton. After banking on his return to be the setup man for Chapman, Britton left this past Friday’s game against the Red Sox due to a hamstring injury.
If the Yankees want to make alleviate this issue and have a plethora of depth in the bullpen, they should give the Pittsburgh Pirates a call regarding Richard Rodriguez.
With Rodriguez, he is a relatively safe closer. He doesn’t record a ton of strikeouts, but he doesn’t walk any batters either. In 29 appearances, Rodriguez recorded a 1.78 ERA, a 0.692 WHIP, a 3-1 overall record, 10 saves and 27 strikeouts. The most staggering thing is that Rodriguez has only issued three walks in 30.1 innings of work.
The Pirates are going to get tons of calls from playoff contenders in desperate need for bullpen help, such as the Houston Astros and Atlanta Braves. The Yankees have the chance to play spoiler to those teams by negotiating a deal with the Pirates to acquire Rodriguez. The move would both help the Yankees and keep arguably the best closer on the trading block away from other World Series hopefuls. It’s a win-win.