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Jorge Castillo, ESPN Staff Writer
NEW YORK — It’s been nearly 15 years since the New York Yankees won a World Series — an eternity in the Bronx — and the pressure to end the drought is mounting. That’s what happens when you acquire Juan Soto the winter before a walk year and he spends the summer raising his price with another dazzling season.
Soto and Aaron Judge, who recently called Soto the best hitter he’s ever seen, have become the franchise’s best one-two punch since Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig.
And yet the Yankees are 10-21 since beginning the season 50-22. The bullpen has been leaky after two strong months. The starting rotation has become inconsistent despite Gerrit Cole’s return from injury. Most notably, the lineup around Judge and Soto has cratered since Giancarlo Stanton strained his left hamstring on June 22.
“We need all those guys at the end of the day,” Soto said after the Yankees got production from throughout the lineup in a 9-1 win over the Tampa Bay Rays on Monday. “It’s going to take more than two guys to go to the World Series and win it.”
Soto knows. Just days after his 21st birthday, he won a World Series with the 2019 Washington Nationals. Five years later, he’s on the brink of hitting the jackpot in free agency. His historic partnership with Judge could end after just one season.
The Yankees’ objective is to maximize their chances with Soto in pinstripes. So for the next week, until the clock strikes 6 p.m. ET on Tuesday, general manager Brian Cashman & Co. will scour the trade market for talent to improve a team still just 1½ games behind the first-place Baltimore Orioles in the American League East.
It’s unrealistic for fans, particularly in this year’s market, to expect Cashman to fill every hole or replace every struggling veteran. But the Yankees are focusing on two key areas that need upgrades: their bullpen and their offense, specifically at third base and second base. Adding a starting pitcher is another possibility.
It takes giving up talent to acquire talent. According to league sources, the Yankees are willing to trade outfield prospect Spencer Jones in the right deal, but they are less inclined to move Jasson Dominguez, the organization’s top prospect.
Below is a closer look at the Yankees’ top priorities for the trade deadline, based on conversations with multiple people familiar with the front office’s thinking.
Addressing the offense
In an ideal world, Dominguez would have replaced the injured Stanton on the roster a month ago after tearing up minor league pitching in his return from Tommy John surgery. But Dominguez landed back on the injured list last month with an oblique strain.
Rookie Ben Rice has been a spark since getting called up to replace Anthony Rizzo, who broke his forearm in June, and is now the team’s leadoff hitter against right-handed pitchers. Catcher Austin Wells has hit his way into the cleanup spot by posting a 155 wRC+ in 26 games since June 15, good for third on the club during the stretch. They’re both bright spots. But their importance at this point in the season highlights the Yankees’ offensive issues.
Left fielder Alex Verdugo has been the worst hitter in the majors since June 15, the day after a three-hit performance at Fenway Park. His -0.7 fWAR and .154 batting average during the stretch ranks 168th out of 169 qualified players. His .220 OBP, .222 slugging percentage and 29 wRC+ are all dead last in that span.
A market with limited impact bats could dictate whether adding another outfielder is in play for the Yankees, but — with Stanton’s looming return to the designated hitter spot, Trent Grisham around to play an elite defensive center field, and Dominguez potentially available in the coming weeks — the club has more flexibility in the outfield than in the infield, which has been abysmal.
It’s almost August. At this point, third baseman DJ LeMahieu and second baseman Gleyber Torres aren’t just off to rough starts anymore. They’re huge disappointments weighing the Yankees down.
Torres, 27, is having a nightmare of a walk season. He is batting .230 with a .658 OPS in 97 games. He leads all second basemen with 12 errors. He has produced 0.6 WAR, good for 17th among 20 qualified second basemen. He has cost himself millions of free agent dollars this winter.
LeMahieu, a two-time batting champion, is slashing .183/.275/.229 in 41 games since making his season debut in late May after fracturing his foot in spring training. He’s collected just four extra-base hits. He hit his first home run of the season Monday. His 52 wRC+ is ninth-worst in the majors among players with at least 150 plate appearances.
Over the weekend, Yankees manager Aaron Boone said LeMahieu, 35, has “earned” the opportunity to play through his prolonged slump. But he also said LeMahieu has been in the lineup most days, batting ninth, because that’s where the Yankees are “roster-wise.”
The Yankees moving on from either veteran — whether via trade or DFA — is highly improbable, especially in the case of LeMahieu, who’s in the fourth year of a six-year, $90 million deal. But the Yankees are looking for upgrades that could move one, if not both, to lesser roles.
The options include Los Angeles Angels infielder Luis Rengifo, who has a .314/.357/.439 slash line in 70 games. Rengifo, a 27-year-old switch-hitter with one year of team control after this season, has made 62 of his 64 starts at second or third base.
The Yankees inquired about Colorado Rockies All-Star infielder Ryan McMahon, but the team has since told him he would not be traded, according to a league source. The Yankees also have interest in Cincinnati Reds infielder Jonathan India, but the Reds aren’t expected to make him available unless they drop in the National League wild-card race over the next week, according to league sources.
Chicago Cubs infielder Nico Hoerner could be available now that Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer has declared the team will make deadline moves with “2025 and beyond in mind.” Miami Marlins center fielder Jazz Chisholm, who began his career as a second baseman, would give the Yankees some pop, but the organization has concerns about how his personality would fit inside the clubhouse, according to a league source.
The need for an infielder perhaps would have been reduced if Jon Berti, acquired from Miami the day before opening day, were healthy. But the veteran infielder has been on the injured list since the beginning of June with a calf strain, and suffered a setback last week — days before he was scheduled to go on a rehab assignment.
Bolstering the bullpen
The Yankees have been on the hunt for bullpen upgrades over the last month. The priority is a dominant late-inning reliever — or two — who misses bats. Oakland Athletics closer Mason Miller is atop their — and just about every other contender’s — wish list, but Oakland’s price for the fireballer with the highest strikeout rate in the majors and under team control through 2029 is astronomical, making a deal for him highly unlikely.
Marlins All-Star closer Tanner Scott, Nationals All-Star closer Kyle Finnegan, Angels closer Carlos Estévez, and Toronto Blue Jays setup man Yimi Garcia are among the realistic options. Of the four, only Finnegan is under team control beyond this season.
Scott ranks fourth among major league relievers in Win Probability Added despite a 14.8% walk rate. He has a 1.24 ERA, 3.35 FIP and a 28.7% strikeout rate that would lead Yankees relievers. He would also give the Yankees a left-hander to join right-handers Clay Holmes, Tommy Kahnle and Luke Weaver in the back end of the bullpen.
Garcia, who recently returned from the injured list, has held opponents to a .150 batting average and .510 OPS with a 0.759 WHIP, 2.48 ERA and 2.77 FIP in 29 innings across 28 appearances. The right-hander’s 36.4% strikeout rate is ninth in the majors among relievers.
Estévez has a 2.45 ERA, a 0.758 WHIP, and a 4.1% walk rate that is 11th among relievers in 33 games. Finnegan boasts a 2.32 ERA, despite a 4.00 FIP, and is 16th among relievers in WPA with 44 strikeouts in 42⅔ innings over 44 appearances.
Pivoting to a starting pitcher
If the Yankees don’t find a way to improve their lineup or bullpen, they could aim at bolstering the starting rotation.
For nearly three months, the Yankees’ rotation was one of baseball’s best without Cole. Yankees starters logged at least four innings in each of the club’s first 75 games, a franchise record. Then the Orioles pummeled Luis Gil for seven runs over 1⅓ innings on June 20 and the rotation suddenly became a problem.
Since that loss, Yankees starters have posted the worst collective ERA (6.01) and the sixth-fewest innings (133⅓) in the majors.
There are reasons to believe the group is turning a corner. Clarke Schmidt’s impending return from a lat strain — Saturday, he threw his first bullpen session since landing on the injured list May 30 — should give the Yankees a boost. Cole has been closer to vintage Cole in his past two starts, holding opponents to two runs over 12 innings. Gil seems to have rebounded from a rough patch over his past three outings. Carlos Rodón on Monday recorded perhaps his best start of the season, holding the Rays to one run over seven innings with a season-high 10 strikeouts.
But the Yankees are expected to curtail Gil’s usage down the stretch — he’s already logged 107⅓ innings, his most ever in pro ball — in his first full season since undergoing Tommy John surgery. That could mean limiting his workload within starts or moving him to the bullpen.
Without any major-league-ready prospects knocking on the door, the Yankees could decide to acquire help to shore up the rotation. Whether they target someone to provide depth or a front-line starter remains to be seen.
