New York Post | Joel Sherman and Jon Heyman: Late last night, Sherman and Heyman dropped a report that the Tarik Skubal sweepstakes seems to be coming to a head, and while the Dodgers appear to be the favorites, the Yankees and the Brewers have also been in hot pursuit of the back-to-back American League Cy Young winner. According to the report, the Tigers initially asked for a package that contains two majors leaguers (including a starting pitcher) and two prospects — but which lacked George Lombard Jr., the Yankees’ top prospect. As it turned out, though, they would wind up falling short, as less than a half hour after their article went live, Jeff Passan tweeted that the Dodgers had finalized a trade for Skubal. While I never quite thought that the Yankees would reel in the former Tigers ace — their needs in the starting lineup vastly outshine their needs in the rotation — this nonetheless stings.
MLB.com | Aiden Stepansky: While the Yankees will most certainly be buyers at this year’s Trade Deadline, their first move this year was to in fact unload a player. Prior to yesterday’s game against the Chicago Cubs, the Bombers sent Camilo Doval to the Pittsburgh Pirates in exchange for a pair of prospects in Omar Alfonzo and Luis Cruz. Yovanny Cruz was promoted from Triple-A as the corresponding move for the MLB roster. Doval, who was acquired from the San Francisco Giants at last year’s deadline, never really settled in with the Yankees, and now, looks to bounce back away from the Bronx, where he had been downright horrendous this season (7.08 ERA at home).
MLB Trade Rumors | Charlie Wright: It’s no secret that the Yankees need some help at the plate, and although their attention has primarily been on right-handed bats (last night’s awful performance against David Peterson is a prime example as to how weak they are against southpaws), they simply need bats, period. As such, the team has apparently checked in on Nationals first baseman Luis Garcia Jr., who is in the midst of a career year in his age-26 season. A left-handed bat who is, realistically, a platoon bat at first base, Garcia is not exactly the ideal fit for a Yankees squad that, when fully healthy, has the first base and DH spots already covered in Ben Rice and Giancarlo Stanton. The thing is, though, they have never really been fully healthy this year, and, well, a 137 OPS+ is a 137 OPS+; sometimes, you swing for the bat and figure out the details later — like when the Yankees added Edwin Encarnacion in 2019 while Aaron Judge and Stanton were on the shelf.
MLB.com | Rob Terranova: Every year, an unknown prospect emerges who can throw triple digits and suddenly finds himself on everybody’s radar. This year, that player is Allen Facundo. Signed out of Venezuela five years ago, Facundo has battled arm injuries his entire professional career, missing 2022 with shoulder issues and undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2024. Now healthy for the first time, uh, ever, the 23-year-old has skyrocketed up prospect risks, jumping from the organization’s 26th prospect to eighth as he has struck out more than a batter an inning with Hudson Valley. While he’s probably too far away to help this season, the left-hander profiles as a future bullpen arm — and, well, southpaws who can sling it 100 mph aren’t exactly a dime a dozen.
Newsweek | Jon Paul Hoornstra: Gil Blanco, who made 17 appearances with the Yankees in 1965 during his age-19 season, passed away in July, at the age of 80. We send our condolences to his family.
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