Brian Cashman entered Deadline Day without a single new pitcher added to a Yankees‘ roster that had a faltering bullpen and shaky rotation.
While he didn’t land a starting pitcher, Cashman made five trades yesterday to take an awful bullpen and make it dominant, and the bench got even better.
The Yankees entered this month as a team with a complete blackhole at third base, no bullpen to speak of, and a bench with some players who had no business being on a contender.
It started with David Bednar, a pitcher whom the Yankees became increasingly connected to throughout the morning and afternoon.
The moves didn’t stop there; Jake Bird followed soon after, and a flurry of moves would come in the final hour as they added Jose Caballero and Camilo Doval to cap off one of Brian Cashman’s most active trade deadlines.
Inside the Yankees’ Explosive Deadline Day Action
The Yankees needed to bolster its bullpen, and David Bednar was an immediate shot in the arm for that group, as he owns a 33.1% strikeout rate with a 2.37 ERA and a 1.96 FIP.
His stuff is electric, sporting a 97 MPH fastball to go with a great splitter and big curveball, allowing him to miss bats at a high level in-zone and out of it.
Immediately following this addition, the Yankees added Jake Bird, who has excellent underlying numbers despite a 4.73 ERA on the season.
Bird owns a disgusting sweeper-curveball and has a sinker with good vertical movement, throwing from a lower arm angle.
The 29-year-old reliever has the highest Stuff+ (116) for any Rockies’ pitcher with at least 50 innings pitched, meaning he has the nastiest stuff in their organization since we began quantifying arsenal quantity in 2020.
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David Bednar brings the reliable dominance with name-brand reliever that you don’t have to dig into the numbers to sell yourself on.
His reputation speaks for itself, and it opened the door for the team to bring in someone such as Jake Bird who falls into the bucket of an analytical darling who hasn’t had great results.
While his numbers on the road this year are horrible, his pitch movement changes wildy on the road compared to at home, which creates some serious issues for any pitcher trying to consistently utilizing their repertoire.
The Yankees are significantly better than the Rockies at pitching development and Jake Bird will no longer have to deal with different movement profiles based on whether the game is at home or on the road.
After trying to make deals and having a couple of hours where nothing materialized, the organization caught fire once again in the final hour.
Oswald Peraza would go to the Los Angeles Angels to clear a roster spot knowing that he was likely to be cut from the roster when Aaron Judge was activated again.
New York got a DSL prospect and international free agent money, and the final two moves would be the cherry on top of a strong deadline from Brian Cashman.
A savvy addition in the form of Jose Caballero would further bolster the bench, a speedy infielder who can play multiple positions and hit lefties.
With +3 Defensive Runs Saved and +7 Outs Above Average across 1,085.2 innings at shortstop, Caballero can play the position in a pinch and do it brilliantly.
A buzzer-beater deal would come in at the last second in the form of Camilo Doval, who hows a 3.09 ERA and 26.2% strikeout rate on the season, continuing to get groundballs at a high level and struggling with command.
The Yankees formed one of the best bullpens in the entire sport, and they were deep in talks to try and acquire Sandy Alcantara of the Miami Marlins, sources tell Empire Sports Media.
New York was unwilling to part ways with Spencer Jones in the deal, and that caused talks to stall before the Marlins eventually chose to just hang onto the 2022 NL Cy Young winner.
It would have been the ultimate risk, for better or worse, as the Yankees would be trading one of the biggest boom-or-bust prospects in the game for a pitcher who has displayed incredible highs and nauseating lows.
Whether the Yankees should have made this trade or not remains to be seen; they weren’t completely shutting down talks regarding Spencer Jones this deadline but covet him as a prospect.
Similar sentiment can be shared for anyone in that consensus top-seven (outside of George Lombard Jr.) and even some of the young players on their big-league roster.
Inside the organization, they were willing to entertain a variety of possibilities, even including a serious pursuit of Jhoan Duran that involved some important pieces being open for discussion.
Jasson Dominguez was not traded, nor did the Yankees want to deal him if they could manage it, but they didn’t completely shut down that possibility either.
There were scenarios where almost any player or prospect were available, but they got the desired outcome of bolstering the bullpen while keeping their top-end prospects.
Rafael Flores and Roc Riggio are real losses for a farm system, but they were blocked off by the Major League depth chart for now.
Brian Cashman left no stone unturned at this year’s trade deadline, and he walks away with a seriously revamped roster as the team tries to rally to re-enter the AL East division race.
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