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“There is always room for improvement,” has been a coined term in the sports world for a long time. Despite a lot of success this season, the New York Yankees went out and improved their team at this year’s trade deadline. The Yankees made five trades, both acquiring fresh faces and even shipping off some of their own. Let’s recap those trades and grade them.
On July 27th, the Yankees acquired Kansas City Royals outfielder, Andrew Benintendi. Benintendi is having a career season and gives the Yankees exactly what they need; a contact hitter who plays good defense. The Yankees still seem to be very homerun dependent, and Benintendi brings more balance to a lineup of power hitters and from the left side of the plate as well. The exciting part of this trade is that when Giancarlo Stanton returns, the Yankees will have an outfield of Benintendi, leading MVP candidate Aaron Judge and Stanton. The Yankees really didn’t give up too much for the 2022 All-Star outfielder; they gave up three middle level prospects. Giving up only what they did to get an All-Star left fielder who is an upgrade over Aaron Hicks and at the time, Joey Gallo, the Yankees get an A for this trade.
The Yankees put an emphasis on upgrading their pitching staff, which was practically stellar all around in the first half of the season. In the bullpen, they added sidearm throwing, right-handed pitcher, Scott Effross. The Yankees did trade their #7 ranked prospect for him in right-handed pitcher, Hayden Wesneski. Effross has only pitched in 60 MLB innings, but he is ready for the majors unlike the prospect the Yankees sent back, and they need help now. He will provide much needed depth in a Yankees bullpen that has been hit with an injury bug and lost Michael King for the season. Effross has a career 2.82 ERA and still has five years of club control left. Brian Cashman had this to say about him, “He’s funky from a different angle, pounds the strike zone, doesn’t walk guys and gets a lot of ground balls. That’s something anybody would want to gravitate to.” The Yankees earn a B for this move.
The Biggest trade of them all was the Yankees big time move to acquire starting pitcher, Frankie Montas, from the Oakland Athletics. Behind Luis Castillo, Montas was widely regarded as the next best pitcher available at the deadline. Compared to what was given up for Castillo, the Yankees didn’t give up too much, but they did give up a solid return. They gave up their 5th, 10th, 17th, and 21st ranked prospects in return. Montas, a seven-year veteran, isn’t set to hit free agency until 2024 and immediately upgrades New York’s starting rotation. The Yankees also received relief pitcher, Lou Trivino, in the deal. That adds more depth to a bullpen that was becoming depleted with a veteran right-handed pitcher. Time will tell how Montas works out in the Big Apple, but right now, Cashman gets a B for this move.
Joey Gallo was one of last season’s big trade deadline acquisitions. The power hitting athletic lefty, unfortunately never pieced it together in New York, and the experiment was a failure. Gallo hit just .159, with 25 homers and 46 RBIs in 140 games in New York. He recognized this and even spoke in an interview about how every time he sees a Yankee hat he will think of his failure in New York. Gallo was clearly torn apart with his frustrating play and fans were running him out of town. Good on Brian Cashman for realizing the best thing for Gallo was to get him out of the Bronx and try to resurrect his career elsewhere. He sent him to the Dodgers for pitcher Clayton Beeter. That helped replenish one of the pitching prospects the Yankees lost as Beeter is the Yanks 10th ranked prospect now. At the end of the day, it was the right thing to do for Gallo and time for the Yankees to move on. This move earns an A.
The last move the Yankees made, which came right at the end of the deadline, was the worst one. Yankees fans were taken back when news broke that starting pitcher, Jordan Montgomery, had been traded to the St. Louis Cardinals. Montgomery is a homegrown player who provided consistency and good production in the back end of the Yankees rotation for a while now. The Yankees got gold glove centerfielder Harrison Bader in return, and he is a very enticing player, although he’s injured right now. Dealing Montgomery though when your pitchers are struggling, Severino was placed on the 60-day IL, and Domingo German has not been good in replacing him, does not make much sense. You need good pitching to capture that elusive World Series title and Cashman dealt away one of the best ones the Yankees had. This trade earns a D grade, the only reason it’s not an F is because of the upside of Bader when he returns from injury. Bader is a brilliant fielder, with speed and a threat to steal bases, and his bat is not too bad either. The Bronxville New York native will be a nice upgrade over Joey Gallo and even Aaron Hicks as well when he returns in September from injury.
