Yankees Rumors

Yankees Interested In Andrew Benintendi, David Peralta

By Darragh McDonald | July 10, 2022 at 5:18pm CDT

5:18PM: The Yankees have also been scouting Diamondbacks outfielder David Peralta, USA Today’s Bob Nightengale writes, with Nightengale describing Peralta as a “fallback option” if Benintendi isn’t acquired. Peralta is also a free agent after the season, and is hitting .245/.312/.460 with 11 home runs through 263 PA.

9:13AM: The Yankees and Royals have recently held talks around a trade that would send outfielder Andrew Benintendi to the Bronx, according to a report from Jon Heyman and Dan Martin of the New York Post. They add that the Yanks are simultaneously trying to work out a separate trade that would send outfielder Joey Gallo out of town.

Benintendi is one of the more obvious trade candidates, and this isn’t the first time his name has popped up in rumors. Since he’s having a good year on a noncompetitive team and is set to reach free agency at season’s end, everything seems to be lining up for a deal between now and the August 2 deadline. As such, MLBTR recently placed him #2 on our list of trade candidates. Back in June, it was reported that the Royals were actively seeking a buyer for the outfielder, with the Blue Jays reportedly showing interest.

The Yankees have been the best team in baseball this year and are therefore the most obvious of deadline buyers. As a team with a 61-24 record, they don’t have many holes, but one area they seem to be interesting in improving is the outfield, by swapping in Benintendi or some other deadline acquisition for Gallo. Reports from earlier this month indicated the Yankees were looking to upgrade on Gallo in some way.

The fact that Gallo has been a disappointment in the Bronx is well-known to Yankee fans, as his production has cratered since coming over from the Rangers in a deal last year. Prior to the deal, Gallo was well-established as one of baseball’s most fearsome sluggers. In the four full season from 2017 to 2021, Gallo put up 38 home runs or more in three of them. In 2019, he was limited to 70 games but still hit 22 long balls. His wRC+ was between 108 and 144 in each of those four seasons, indicating he was between 8% and 44% better than league average. 2020 was a disappointing campaign but under the strange circumstances of the pandemic season, and he seemed to bounce right back in 2021. In his time with the Rangers last year, he hit 25 home runs in 95 games and was slashing .233/.379/.490 for a wRC+ of 139. After the deal, though, he hit just .160/.303/.404, 95 wRC+. That’s carried over into this season, as he’s hitting .166/.288/.341 on the year, producing a wRC+ of just 84. After almost a year of subpar production, it seems the Yanks are willing to move on. MLBTR placed Gallo at #39 on the aforementioned list of trade candidates.

Benintendi is having a much better season than Gallo, though in a very different style. In contrast to Gallo’s high-powered, high-strikeout approach, Benintendi would bring a more contact-oriented profile. His 14.2% strikeout rate is well below the 22.2% league average and far lower than the 38.3% rate Gallo has on the year. However, he’s hit just three homers on the season, compared to Gallo’s ten. All told, Benintendi is slashing .317/.387/.402 for a wRC+ of 128, a significant upgrade on Gallo’s 84.

Salary wise, swapping in Benintendi for Gallo wouldn’t make a huge difference for the Yanks. Both players are impending free agents, with Benintendi making $8.5MM and Gallo $10.275MM. Jason Martinez of Roster Resource calculates the Yankees’ CBT number to be $262MM at the moment, placing them beyond the $250MM second threshold but shy of the $270MM third threshold.

The Royals will have no interest in Gallo, of course. As a rebuilding team currently sporting a 31-52 record, they will be looking for long-term assets, either prospects or perhaps players recently reaching the majors. That leaves the Yankees to figure out who wants to take a shot on Gallo and hope for a bounceback. If a team wanted to convince themselves that Gallo was due for a turnaround, they could perhaps look at his HR/FB rate. It’s 17.5% this year, well below his career rate of 27% and his single-season career high of 37.3% in 2019. However, his Statcast page is a real mixed bag, with Gallo still capable of hitting the ball very hard, though not with enough frequency. His max exit velocity is in the 90th percentile, but his average exit velocity is just in the 40th. Any team acquiring him would have to hope for a bit more consistency, with that average exit velocity ticking up from this year’s 88.6 mph towards the 93-95 mph range of his better seasons.

The report from Heyman and Martin suggests the Yankees’ best bet would be teams run by his former bosses in Texas. There’s the Rangers themselves, who are within four games of a playoff spot and could consider doing some buying. Seeing them go after a rental like Gallo would be surprising, though, as this is the first year of what the club hopes to be a multi-year competitive window. Players with a bit more control would be more obvious fits, though perhaps the Yankees are motivated enough to move on from Gallo that they package him with someone else or eat part of his salary. In the short-term, there’s certainly room for Gallo, given the club’s roster. The Rangers have been featuring an outfield mix of Adolis Garcia, Kole Calhoun, Brad Miller and Leody Taveras in recent days. Miller is having an even worse year than Gallo, slashing .210/.261/.347 for a wRC+ of 73. The club has also been featuring Mitch Garver at designated hitter most of the time, but he’s going to undergo season-ending surgery tomorrow.

There’s also the Padres, whose president of baseball operations A.J. Preller was in the Rangers’ front office when Gallo was drafted. They have been looking for outfield help for a while and have been snakebit by injuries to Wil Myers and Jurickson Profar. Nomar Mazara has stepped up and filled one spot admirably, but they’re still getting subpar production from Trent Grisham and Jose Azocar. Myers is nearing a return but was having a dismal campaign before landing on the injured list, meaning there’s no guarantee he’ll fix things once healthy. Despite those outfield struggles, the club is 49-37 and currently in possession of an NL Wild Card spot, making them clear deadline buyers.

There’s also the financial situation to consider with the Padres, as they are right up against the luxury tax and seem loath to cross it for a second straight year. Jason Martinez of Roster Resource calculates their CBT number to be $228.9, just shy of the $230MM first threshold. They have been trying to trade Myers and Eric Hosmer to get rid of some salary for quite some time, though without success thus far. They have also reportedly been considering trading a starting pitcher for the same reasons, with Blake Snell standing out as perhaps the most viable option. MLBTR’s Steve Adams recently took a detailed look at the situation. It would be a surprise for the Padres to create that breathing room and then use it on a dice roll like Gallo as opposed to someone currently having success. Though Preller has shown a tendency towards acquiring former Rangers like Profar, Mazara and Yu Darvish, meaning it can’t be completely discounted.

AL Notes: Gausman, Forst, Athletics, Olson, Refsnyder

By Mark Polishuk | July 9, 2022 at 10:22pm CDT

Kevin Gausman won’t start tomorrow’s game against the Mariners, as the Blue Jays righty is still recovering from a bone bruise on his right ankle. Gausman hasn’t pitched since suffering the injury on July 2, but Jays manager Charlie Montoyo told Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi and other reporters that the team is hoping Gausman can return to the mound on Tuesday when the Blue Jays host the Phillies.

Toronto’s struggling rotation hasn’t been helped by Gausman’s absence, as the Jays’ lack of depth was already being stretched by a recent doubleheader against the Rays, and Ross Stripling’s move to the rotation to replace the injured Hyun Jin Ryu. Since June 14, the Blue Jays have a 9-16 record, and their pitchers have a cumulative 5.49 ERA — the second-highest total of any team in baseball in that stretch. Rotation help certainly seems like the Jays’ top priority heading into the trade deadline, but in the short term, the club is just trying to hang onto its status as a wild card team.

Yankees Outright Ryan Weber

By Steve Adams | July 9, 2022 at 3:36pm CDT

TODAY: The Yankees outrighted Weber to Triple-A

JULY 6: The Yankees announced Wednesday that right-hander Ryan Weber has been designated for assignment. His spot on the roster will go to righty Miguel Castro, who’s been reinstated from the paternity list.

Weber, 31, appeared in just one game in his latest Yankees stint, tossing a scoreless inning of relief on just 11 pitches. He’s totaled 4 2/3 innings of one-run ball with the Yankees this season, spending the remainder of the season with their Triple-A affiliate in Scranton. This is the second time Weber has been designated for assignment this season. He cleared waivers, elected free agency and quickly re-signed with the Yankees the first time around. It wouldn’t be a surprise at all to see the same sequence play out once again, as it’s fairly common for journeyman pitchers of Weber’s nature. (See also: Drew Hutchison in Detroit this season)

The Yankees are the seventh Major League team for which Weber has pitched since debuting with the Braves back in 2015. He’s logged big league time each season since that debut but has never appeared in more than 14 games and has maxed out at 43 Major League innings in any given season. Through 171 2/3 innings as a Major Leaguer, Weber has a 5.19 ERA with a well below-average 14.8% strikeout rate but an excellent 5.3% walk rate and a strong 52.9% grounder rate.

The Yankees will have a week to trade Weber, attempt to pass him through waivers or release him.

Latest On Pirates’ Trade Possibilities

By Anthony Franco | July 8, 2022 at 1:18pm CDT

Few players who could plausibly be moved this summer would be as impactful a pickup as Bryan Reynolds. The Pirates center fielder isn’t performing at quite his star level from last season, but he’s having another well above-average campaign. Through 335 plate appearances entering play Friday, Reynolds owns a .257/.337/.463 line with 15 home runs, 10 doubles and a trio of stolen bases.

Controllable for another three-plus seasons, there’d be no shortage of interest if the Bucs make him available over the coming weeks. Jon Heyman of the New York Post lists the Yankees, Marlins, Phillies, Padres and Mariners among the teams likely to gauge his availability. There are no surprises among that group, as all five are known to be in the hunt for outfield help and/or have made unsuccessful attempts to pry Reynolds away in the past.

New York has relied on Aaron Judge in center field to great results, but they’ve grown dissatisfied with the continued struggles of Joey Gallo and (to a lesser extent) Aaron Hicks in the corners. They could eye Reynolds either to plug directly into left field or as a center field option capable of kicking Judge back to right. Miami and Philadelphia have direct needs in center field and figure to inquire about various possibilities at the position; the Fish have been linked to Oakland’s Ramón Laureano as well.

San Diego has holes in both corner spots and has watched center fielder Trent Grisham flounder for most of the year. Seattle may have the most robust outfield of any of the reported Reynolds suitors, but Jarred Kelenic struggled enough to be optioned to Triple-A and they’ve not gotten the production they’d anticipated from Jesse Winker or Mitch Haniger this season (the latter on account of injuries).

The quintet, of course, would certainly be joined by other suitors if the Pirates actively shopped Reynolds. Pittsburgh, however, has set a justifiably lofty asking price both at last summer’s deadline and over the winter. That makes him a longshot to actually change hands, and Heyman notes in a separate piece that it remains “unlikely” the Bucs will find a compelling enough offer to make a move.

That may also be true of star closer David Bednar, whom Heyman floats as a possible trade candidate. One of five players the Pirates acquired in the January 2021 Joe Musgrove deal, Bednar has emerged as one of the sport’s best late-inning weapons. Since landing in Pittsburgh, the right-hander has posted a 2.26 ERA while holding opponents to a .187/.255/.321 line in just shy of 100 frames. That includes 39 innings of 2.31 ERA ball this season, with Bednar punching out more than a third of batters faced and likely to earn his first All-Star nod.

The 27-year-old comes with even more club control than Reynolds, as he’s slated to remain in Pittsburgh through 2026. Bednar won’t reach arbitration-eligibility until the 2024 campaign, so there’s no financial pressure for the Bucs to make a deal. Needless to say, they’d have to be blown away by a package to pull the trigger on a Bednar trade as well.

One player the Bucs are virtually assured of trading is starter José Quintana. The veteran southpaw is having a solid bounceback season after signing a $2MM free agent deal over the winter. He’s a sensible back-end rotation target for teams seeking pitching help, and the Bucs have already fielded hits from contenders. As an impeding free agent on a team that won’t come anywhere near the postseason, he’s as good a bet as any player in the league to change uniforms over the next few weeks.

Quintana suggested he’s not dwelling on the possibility of being dealt, saying he’s “(staying) focused on one start at a time” (link via Rob Biertempfel of the Athletic). He acknowledged a move was a possibility, but indicated he’d be open to returning to Pittsburgh in free agency next winter. “For sure, I want to come back here. But I think it’s too soon to talk about that. I want to keep my eyes focused on this season, one start at a time.” Nothing would preclude the Bucs from reengaging with Quintana’s representatives during the offseason if/when he’s dealt this month, but this season’s solid 3.33 ERA/3.96 SIERA make it likely he’ll land a loftier guarantee (and perhaps a two-year commitment) if he continues to pitch well down the stretch.

Yankees Sign Richard Rodriguez To Minor League Contract

By Anthony Franco | July 7, 2022 at 2:31pm CDT

The Yankees recently signed reliever Richard Rodríguez to a minor league contract, as first reported by Chris Hilburn-Trenkle of Baseball America. According to the right-hander’s transactions log at MLB.com, he’s been assigned to the club’s Florida complex.

Rodríguez, 32, isn’t all that far removed from being one of the game’s better late-inning arms. He broke onto the big league scene with 69 1/3 frames of 2.47 ERA ball for the Pirates in 2018, kicking off a generally excellent three and a half year run in black and gold. He soaked up another 65 1/3 innings with a 3.72 ERA the following season before seemingly taking his game to another level in 2020. Rodríguez posted a 2.70 ERA through 24 contests during the shortened campaign, pushing his strikeout rate to an excellent 36.6% while only walking 5.4% of opponents.

That strong work both earned Rodríguez a closing role in Pittsburgh and made him one of the rebuilding club’s more interesting trade chips. His strikeouts plummeted during the first half of last season, though. Even as he continued to excel keeping runs off the board, the diminished swing-and-miss took its toll on his trade value. The Bucs flipped him to the Braves at last year’s deadline for Bryse Wilson and 2019 eighth-round pick Ricky DeVito.

Rodríguez made 27 appearances with Atlanta but only struck out nine batters in 26 innings. He allowed six home runs over that stretch and was a healthy scratch throughout the team’s World Series run. The Braves declined to tender him a contract at the end of the year, and Rodríguez hit free agency.

While he seemed a solid candidate for a buy-low big league deal, he lingered on the market until after the lockout. The reason became evident shortly after league business resumed, as he was hit in April with an 80-game suspension after testing positive for a performance-enhancing substance. The suspension was announced just before Opening Day but was the result of a failed test from before the December 2 lockout.

Now that the ban is up, he’ll have to pitch his way back to the big leagues. He’ll presumably spend some time at the complex building into game shape before reporting to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. The Yankees could eventually turn to Rodríguez as a late-season bullpen option, but he won’t be eligible for postseason play in 2022 as a result of his suspension. He has four-plus years of big league service time and won’t have enough time this season to eclipse the five-year threshold, so he’d be controllable through 2024 if he earns an MLB look and impresses club brass.

Pirates Acquire Manny Banuelos

By Darragh McDonald | July 3, 2022 at 12:40pm CDT

Pirates’ general manager Ben Cherington has informed reporters, including Rob Biertempfel of The Athletic, that the club has acquired left-hander Manny Banuelos from the Yankees for cash considerations. No corresponding move will be necessary as the Pirates already had a vacancy on their 40-man roster.

Banuelos, 31, was in the Yankees’ system as far back as 2008, when he was just 17 years old. He was long-considered one of the best prospects in the system, appearing on Baseball America’s list of the top 30 Yankee youngsters for seven straight years from 2009 to 2015. That was despite missing the entirety of the 2013 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery.

In 2015, he was traded to Atlanta for David Carpenter and Chasen Shreve and made his MLB debut that year, though injuries limited him to just 26 1/3 innings. He then bounced around the minors for a few seasons, pitching in the systems of the Braves, Angels, Dodgers and White Sox. The Pale Hose gave him his second MLB opportunity, as Banuelos threw 50 2/3 innings for them in 2019, though he underwhelmed with a 6.93 ERA in that time.

In 2020 and 2021, he took his journeyman status to another level, signing with the Mariners, before joining the Fubon Guardians of the Chinese Professional Baseball League and then the Sultanes de Monterrey of the Mexican League.

In January, the Yankees signed him to a minor league deal, bringing him back to the organization where his career began. Banuelos pitched well in Triple-A, throwing 30 2/3 innings with a 2.35 ERA, 24.2% strikeout rate, 9.7% walk rate and 45.6% ground ball rate. Based on that strong performance, he finally got the call to join the Yankees after so many twists and turns.

He spent just over a month with the big league team, faring quite well in 8 1/3 innings. He has a 2.16 ERA on the season so far, along with a 22.9% strikeout rate, 8.6% walk rate and 62.5% ground ball rate in that small sample. Despite that solid showing, Banuelos lost his roster spot last week, likely due to the fact that he’s out of options.

Despite his long and winding career, Banuelos has only accrued about two years of MLB service time. That makes him a fairly sensible pickup for the Pirates. If he can sustain any of the promising results he’s shown so far this year, they can retain him well into the future, when they will surely hope to be more competitive than they are at the moment. He makes a lot of sense in the short term as well, given the club’s current bullpen situation. With Anthony Banda recently being DFA’d and traded to the Blue Jays, that left Cam Vieaux as the only southpaw in the club’s bullpen. The team leaned hard on Vieaux in mop-up duty recently, as he was sent out to pitch the eighth inning on Friday with the club down 9-1. The Pirates let him take a shellacking to save the rest of their arms, as he ended up throwing 56 pitches in a single inning of work, allowing eight runs (seven earned). The addition of Banuelos will give them a fresh arm from the south side to insert in their relief mix.

Yankees Exploring Market For Outfield Upgrades

By Steve Adams | July 1, 2022 at 10:54pm CDT

The Yankees have been baseball’s best team by a wide margin — their .727 winning percentage trounces the Astros’ second-ranked .640 mark — but they’ll naturally still be on the hunt for improvements as the Aug. 2 trade deadline draws nearer. To that end, general manager Brian Cashman and his staff have already begun to survey the outfield market, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post.

It’s wholly unsurprising that the Yanks would be in the market for outfielders, given the way both Joey Gallo and Aaron Hicks have floundered so far in 2022. The 28-year-old Gallo, though he’s in the prime of his career, is limping through a career-worst .165/.276/.330 season and has fanned in a staggering 39.2% of his plate appearances this season. Hicks, 32, looked to be turning a corner when he opened the month of June with a .321/.410/.434 showing through 61 plate appearances across 16 games. However, he’s fallen into a 2-for-24 slump since that time and is hitting just .218/.338/.284 on the season overall. He’s still signed three more years beyond the current season, while Gallo is a free agent this coming winter, so the leash on Hicks figures to be longer.

Gallo’s struggles have pushed him into a decreased role of late, as Giancarlo Stanton has seen his time in the outfield tick upward. Stanton has already logged 242 innings in the outfield (all but seven coming in right) — the second-highest total in any of his four seasons wearing pinstripes. Stanton played in 139 games in 2021 but still logged just 199 innings in the outfield. Hicks, meanwhile, has shifted to left field in deference to MVP candidate (and free-agent-to-be) Aaron Judge, whose 337 frames in center this year have already exceeded his combined career total from six prior seasons.

There’s no indication yet as to which direction the Yankees are specifically leaning, and the outfield market figures to feature a broad range of available players. Speculatively speaking, a left-handed bat would be sensible — particularly one capable of playing center field. Anthony Rizzo is the only current regular who bats left-handed in the Yanks’ lineup. Hicks is a switch-hitter but better from the right side of the plate throughout his career, and the only other lefty bats on the big league roster are the struggling Gallo, switch-hitting utilityman Marwin Gonzalez and veteran infielder Matt Carpenter.

Kansas City’s Andrew Benintendi is among the likeliest outfielders to be traded, given his upcoming free agency, his strong .305/.370/.393 batting line and the Royals’ fifth-place standing in the AL Central. Other outfielders likely to be available include Oakland’s Ramon Laureano, Baltimore’s Anthony Santander and Trey Mancini, Cincinnati’s Tyler Naquin and Tommy Pham, Detroit’s Robbie Grossman, Pittsburgh’s Ben Gamel, Arizona’s David Peralta and Chicago’s Ian Happ.

We’ll surely see ample rumblings on Pirates center fielder Bryan Reynolds and Orioles outfielders Cedric Mullins and Austin Hays, but all three of those players can be controlled three more years beyond the current season. That’s also true of the aforementioned Laureano, but the A’s are only just beginning to dismantle their roster and as such could be a bit more amenable to parting with some more years of control than the Pirates or O’s, both of whom have been rebuilding for several years already.

The Yankees are already well over the new $230MM luxury tax threshold, currently checking in at about $246MM worth of luxury obligations, in the estimation of Roster Resource’s Jason Martinez. They’re paying a 20% tax on every dollar spent over that line (approximately $3.2MM as things currently stand) and would pay that same 20% on every dollar up to $250MM. Any spending thereafter would be taxed at a 32% rate, up to $270MM.

Yankees Select Ryan Weber

By Steve Adams | June 29, 2022 at 9:55am CDT

The Yankees have selected the contract of right-hander Ryan Weber, per a team announcement. He’ll return to their big league roster for a second stint this season. Weber will take the roster spot of lefty JP Sears, who was optioned back to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre following last night’s game.

Weber, 31, appeared with the Yankees once this season already, logging 3 2/3 innings and allowing one run in a long relief outing. It was a one-off appearance for Weber, who was designated for assignment and elected free agency after clearing waivers. He quickly re-upped with the Yanks on a new minor league deal, however (as is fairly common for journeymen arms in this mold), and has continued to pitch well in Scranton. Through 24 2/3 frames for the RailRiders, Weber has a 2.55 ERA with an outstanding 19-to-1 K/BB ratio and a solid 47.4% ground-ball rate.

The Yankees are the seventh Major League team for which Weber has pitched since debuting with the Braves back in 2015. He’s logged big league time each season since that debut but has never appeared in more than 14 games and has maxed out at 43 Major League innings in any given season. Through 170 2/3 innings as a Major Leaguer, Weber has a 5.22 ERA with a well below-average 14.8% strikeout rate but an excellent 5.4% walk rate and a strong 53.2% grounder rate.

It wouldn’t be a surprise to see a similar DFA carousel play out this time around for Weber, but he’ll nevertheless pick up at least a few extra days of big league service time and (most notably for him) Major League pay. Despite appearing in parts of seven MLB seasons, Weber hasn’t yet reached three years of service and has never been arbitration eligible, so even brief Major League stints carry extra weight for him.

Yankees Designate Manny Banuelos For Assignment

By Steve Adams | June 28, 2022 at 3:00pm CDT

The Yankees announced Tuesday that they’ve designated left-hander Manny Banuelos for assignment and recalled fellow lefty JP Sears from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

Now 31 years old, Banuelos inked a minor league deal with the Yankees back in March and finally made it to the Majors for the team for whom he was considered a top prospect for so many years. He’s pitched rather well in Pinstripes, too, notching a 2.16 ERA, a 22.9% strikeout rate, an 8.6% walk rate and a huge 62.5% ground-ball rate in a small sample of 8 1/3 innings out of the bullpen.

Despite that solid showing, the Yankees will turn that roster spot over to the younger Sears, who has been excellent both in the Majors (seven shutout innings) and in Triple-A so far this season (1.83 ERA, 50-to-6 K/BB ratio in 39 1/3 innings). At this point, there’s little denying that Sears has earned himself a more prominent look in the Majors, but it’s still at least a mild surprise that it came at the expense of Banuelos, given his solid showing thus far.

With Banuelos now off the 40-man roster, the Yankees will have a week to trade him or attempt to pass him through outright waivers. Banuelos is out of minor league options and can’t be sent down without first clearing waivers — which surely played a role in today’s DFA — so any club who claims him or acquires him in a trade will need keep him on the active roster.

Yankees Interested In Luis Castillo

By Mark Polishuk | June 25, 2022 at 9:06pm CDT

We’ve already heard about a few teams with interest in the Reds’ starting pitching, and it isn’t surprising that the Yankees are also on that list. According to The Athletic’s Peter Gammons, the Yankees have “talked” with Cincinnati about right-hander Luis Castillo, and Reds scouts have been watching pitching prospect Will Warren (currently throwing for the Yankees’ Double-A affiliate).

Starting pitching would ostensibly not be a major priority for the Bronx Bombers, given how the rotation has been arguably the league’s best over the first three months of the season. Gerrit Cole, Jameson Taillon, Luis Severino, Nestor Cortes, and Jordan Montgomery have all looked excellent, and the rotation as a whole ranks first in baseball in walk rate (5.4%) and strikeout rate (25.4%), and second in cumulative fWAR (7.7) and ERA (3.00).

However, even beyond the “you can never have enough pitching” credo, there is certainly reason for Yankees GM Brian Cashman to be looking to reinforce his staff. Severino tossed only 18 regular-season innings over the course of three injury-riddled seasons from 2019-21, and thus his workload might need to be managed down the stretch. Likewise, Cortes has never thrown more than 119 2/3 combined innings in any pro season, while Taillon has also battled a number of injury problems throughout his career.

While none of Severino, Cortes, Taillon, Cole, or Montgomery have run into any real health issues thus far in 2022, that collective durability could actually be more of a reason for Cashman to proactively seek out another starter. Since it’s very rare to have an entire rotation stay intact throughout a full season, the Yankees could look to add before trouble (inevitably?) strikes, since waiting until a problem arises could decrease New York’s leverage with the Reds or any other team dangling pitching.

Gammons also figures the Yankees will make another attempt to acquire Frankie Montas, after the Yankees engaged the A’s in trade talks back in March. Castillo has also been on New York’s radar in the past, when the Bombers reportedly rejected Cincinnati’s ask of Gleyber Torres and more for Castillo back in January 2021.

The Reds will certainly have another high asking price on Castillo in the coming weeks. The righty is arguably the top pitcher available prior to the August 2 trade deadline, due to both his front-of-the-rotation ability and his contractual status — Castillo isn’t scheduled for free agency until after the 2023 season. He has been more solid than spectacular thus far in 2022, but it could be that Castillo is still ramping up after missing the first month of action due to shoulder soreness.

While Warren certainly wouldn’t be the centerpiece of any Castillo trade package, the 23-year-old righty is already gaining attention in his first year of pro ball. An eighth-round pick for the Yankees in the 2021 draft, Warren is ranked by both Baseball America and MLB Pipeline as the 27th-best prospect in New York’s farm system, and he has a 3.72 ERA over 55 2/3 combined innings at high-A (35 IP) and Double-A (20 2/3 IP) in 2022. His two newest pitches are his best offerings, as the Yankees’ pitching development staff helped Warren turn his slider and two-seamer into plus pitches. It already seems like Warren would be a good fit as a relief pitcher down the road, according to Pipeline’s scouting report, though he might be able to work in a rotation if he can successfully mix his slider and two-seamer with a more average changeup and curveball.

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