Rival Yankees ‘Focused’ On Trading For Pitching Help

With less than two days remaining before Major League Baseball’s trade deadline comes to a close, the Boston Red Sox continue to be viewed as a potential landing spot for All-Star sluggers such as Yandy Díaz and Ryan O’Hearn.

While an offensive upgrade seems likely, the chief baseball officer of the Boston Red Sox, Craig Breslow, has also been reportedly waiting on the Minnesota Twins to decide on trading All-Star right-handed pitcher Joe Ryan. With the cost to acquire Ryan, who’s under team control until 2028, expected to be steep, the Red Sox also have plenty of competition from teams like the New York Yankees in trade talks with the Arizona Diamondbacks for right-handers Merrill Kelly and Zac Gallen.

While the Yankees have already made a big splash by trading for third baseman Ryan McMahon last week, the team is also expected to make upgrades to its injury-plagued starting rotation. During an appearance on MLB Network on Tuesday, New York Post baseball insider Joel Sherman said he thinks the Yankees will be aggressive over the next two days in trying to make deals to address the team’s bullpen and starting rotation.

“I think their focus is pitching,” said Sherman. “They’d love to get at least one starter; two would be perfect. They’d love to get two relievers, one lefty, and three would be perfect. I think that this is their focus. But if you told me, sometime between now and 6 P.M. on Thursday, even late in the day Thursday, what’s still sitting in the market, they would love to add another.”

It’s not much of a surprise that the Yankees would want to pursue starting pitching at the deadline after the team lost Cy Young Award winner Garrit Cole for the season in March after undergoing UCL reconstruction surgery on his right elbow. That poor luck extended well into the regular season with injuries to pitchers Luis Gil, Clarke Schmidt and Ryan Yarbrough.