Yankees general manager Brian Cashman held his annual post-trade deadline press conference on Thursday night. Here's what he said on the team's activity and outlook…
More today than yesterday
The Yankees made nine total trades over the last week, and of the five that transpired before the league's 6 p.m. deadline, three completely reshaped the structure of their bruised-and-battered bullpen.
Over the course of three hours on Thursday afternoon, Cashman acquired a trio of high-leverage, right-handed relievers: David Bednar from the Pirates, Jake Bird from the Rockies, and Camilo Doval from the Giants. Sandwiched in between the bullpen upgrades were deals that saw utilityman Jose Caballero acquired from the Rays and infielder Oswald Peraza shipped to the Angels.
While the Yankees checked off several boxes with a slew of trades, both large and small — newly-acquired hitters Ryan McMahon, Amed Rosario, and Austin Slater were all on the active roster Wednesday — bullpen help was their top priority. Fair strategy, considering that the unit entered Thursday with the league's second-worst ERA (6.29) in July.
"We've improved the team, we believe. We tried to address the areas of need," Cashman said. "We added to the bullpen. We improved the position player group as well, giving the manager more choices to play matchups… He's certainly got more arms to mix and match with the new additions as well… We've addressed a lot of areas of need to give us the best shot we can take."
The deals involving Bednar, Bird, and Doval matter beyond 2025 as well. All three relievers are under team-friendly control through the 2026 season, and Cashman viewed this collective contract situation as an obvious "benefit." It wasn't the motive for the moves, as he also inquired about rental relievers in the marketplace.
But what about the rotation?
Despite the flurry of arrivals and departures, the Yankees didn't come away with any new rotation pieces. While they were to linked to several starters in league-wide rumors spanning the entire month — Sandy Alcantara, Edward Cabrera, Mitch Keller, and Merrill Kelly were mainly at the forefront — nothing materialized, according to Cashman.
When asked if the Yankees seriously pursued a blockbuster deal for Alcantara, Cashman neither confirmed nor denied any involvement.
"We certainly knocked on many doors regarding potential starting pitching, but obviously weren't able to match up in that category," Cashman said. "We had a lot of conversations in a lot of different places. But again, this is what we have to show for those efforts."
The Yankees' inability to deliever rotation depth places immense pressure on a top-heavy staff that's become more volatile due to injuries and inconsistencies. While they have a quality one-two punch of star lefties Max Fried and Carlos Rodón in full-ish command, the back-end combination of Will Warren, Marcus Stroman, and others isn't reassuring by any means.
They can treat injured starter Luis Gil's imminent return to the rotation as a deadline acquisition, but only time will tell how the 2024 AL Rookie of the Year — fully recovered from a months-long lat strain — fares with a closely-monitored workload this summer. The Yankees already know that Gerrit Cole and Clarke Schmidt won't see the mound again until sometime in 2026.
Top prospects stick around
As the chaotic week unfolded, expectations of the Yankees making highly-coveted outfielder Spencer Jones the centerpiece of any blockbuster trade package waned. This news came as no surprise, as a torrid start to his first stint in Triple-A exponentially boosted his value and altered his stock.
Cashman was asked if he tried to avoid trades that would've required the Yankees to part ways with Jones, or top infield farmhand George Lombard Jr. He didn't speak to either prospect by name in response, but did acknowledge that some players are "more touchable than others."
"There's a lot of guys that we like, and unfortunately, we parted with guys we like," Cashman said. "Just the nature of the beast. We were trying to stay away from certain guys more than others, but we also recognize that you have to give to get…
"That's where the rubber meets the road. You've got to make a decision on certain things, where you pick the lane holding on and have that for yourself, or use that to get something that's going to help you in the near-term. We had to make those tough decisions…"
A brief state of the union
While the Yankees wrapped up July on a three-game winning streak, several of their warts were exposed throughout the month. They produced a sub-.500 record in July for a third straight season, and saw a red-hot Blue Jays squad leap as many as 6.5 games ahead of them for first place in the AL East.
With a tight 1.5-game lead over the Red Sox for second place in the division, the Yankees will need to play a much cleaner brand of baseball in order to supplant the Blue Jays and avoid the extra round of wild-card postseason games. And all that Cashman can do now is cross his fingers for a roster that's largely underwhelmed.
"I know we have improved ourselves, and that's the nature of the beast at the deadline," Cashman said. "You and your group — and I've got great people behind me advising me — you get after it and prepare for whatever comes your way because it's so unpredictable. I thought we were buttoned-up and we were prepared.
"We were hopeful to try to execute some things, and now it's time to test the theory of how it plays out with the group of players we currently have. I know we're better. We're better today than we were yesterday, so mission accomplished there… We're looking forward to taking our shot — that's all we can give it."
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