Jack Curry of YES Network noted on last night’s Hot Stove that he sees the Yankees going down the trade route if they were to add a starting pitcher.
Tatsuya Imai is a known player of interest to the Yankees, but the rest of free agency lacks the kind of pitchers and pricepoints that Brian Cashman seems particularly interested in.
Handing out a long-term contract to Framber Valdez seems highly unlikely, what’s more likely is the team will focus on the trade market for non-Imai options.
Before we dive into the article, here are some of the variables we took into account when it came to rankings:
- Projected Output For 2026
- Upside for Growth/Change
- Cost of Acquisition
- Injury Risk
With that information in-hand, here are my top five trade targets for the Yankees’ rotation, excluding names such as Pablo Lopez, Joe Ryan, and Tarik Skubal who seem unlikely to be moved.
READ MORE: Yankees’ Brian Cashman sounds the alarms over lineup problem
No. 5: Can the Yankees Unlock Mitch Keller’s Upside?
This past season Mitch Keller produced a 4.19 ERA and 4.02 FIP, being a perfectly average starter but making all 32 of his starts for the Pirates.
He’s appeared in more than 30 games in each of the last four seasons, performing at a roighly average rate but seeing the strikeout rate decline year after year over the last three seasons.
Back in 2023, the right-hander had tons of buzz in the baseball world as a 27-year-old who struck out 210 batters in 194.1 innings while sitting 95 MPH on his fastball, but the velocity and swing-and-miss stuff have started to decline.
Getting some velocity back would help the swing-and-miss rates, but entering his age-30 season, it’s unlikely that his fastball starts gaining some heat and reversing the recent trends.
Other ways to generate more swings and misses, such as throwing more breaking balls or adding a new pitch, would be the better path for success for Keller.
New York reportedly showed interest in the right-hander at the trade deadline but it’s unclear whether the their interest was serious or not.
I view him as more of a backend starter, a no. 4 specifically, someone that makes a start in the ALCS or World Series in a similar capacity to Max Scherzer with the Blue Jays who was barely trusted to get past the fifth inning.
That’s not a bad thing on a one-year deal, but at roughly $18.5 million a season for the next three seasons, it might be short-sighted for the Yankees to take on an expensive project pitcher.
He is the most expensive arm on this list in both AAV and total guaranteed money remaining, and while I’d expect him to bring back the lightest return, I’m not extremely infatuated by this.
Mitch Keller is objectively an upgrade and could produce a 105 ERA+ over 180 innings which is valuable, but I’m not exactly sure he’s the pitcher you want to add as you effectively remove yourself from the starter market for a year or two.
No. 4: Could Edward Cabrera Continue His Starting Surge?
In 2024, Edward Cabrera produced a 4.95 ERA in 96.1 innings as he struggled with command all season, but in 2025 he was one of the better starters in the National League.
A 3.53 ERA and 3.83 FIP across 26 starts made this both the best and healthiest season of his young career, as the 27-year-old has the explosive velocity and blitzball-like stuff to miss bats consistently.
The right-hander moved away from his four-seamer and embraced a mix-it-up approach, throwing five pitches at least 12% of the time and cutting the walk rate to just 8.3%.
His 101 Location+ and 105 Stuff+ meant that he both had excellent pitch repertoire grades and had above-average command, a combination of traits for a young pitcher that could result in an ace-like outcome.
Sporting three years of control, you could argue no player on this list would command a higher prospect cost than Cabrera, which might seriously affect the Yankees’ ability to trade for him despite the low financial cost.
This isn’t to say that he isn’t an excellent pitcher or doesn’t have excellent upside, but he has to continue ascending in order to justify the gargantuan prospect package he’ll command.
The Yankees certainly have the pitching infastructure to maximize value, but the Marlins have become incredibly advanced there as well, you aren’t taking talent from a team that doesn’t know hot to use it.
I’d like Cabrera on the Yankees, but I would wonder how the market reacts to someone with that injury history and lack of success in a trade situation.
No. 3: Is Adding Another Lefty Really Feasible For the Yankees?
Would it be crazy for the Yankees to run a three-lefty rotation and potentially go with all three in a playoff rotation?
Nope, the average RHB had a .315 xwOBA against LHP while the average LHB had a .328 xwOBA vs RHP, the platoon advantage against southpaws is way less favorable for batters.
Lefties have dominated the sport in the last few years, and its why I wouldn’t rule out a pursuit of MacKenzie Gore for the Bronx Bombers.
Over the last two seasons, Gore has produced a fairly average ERA but has produced strong strikeout numbers, and there are some ways to improve him that the Nationals couldn’t implement due to poor infastructure under Mike Rizzo.
He has a good fastball but he throws it too much, despite people viewing his secondaries as below-average, but all of his secondaries missed bats at a high rate and had good xwOBA numbers.
Gore doesn’t move the ball well away from lefties, but it gives me a very similar feeling to someone like Carlos Rodon who picked up a sinker and changeup when it became clear that his heater didn’t have it anymore.
The Yankees would be the right organization for Gore to either refine his changeup or add a completely different offspeed pitch, and I think the idea of him either pushing the cutter usage or adding another FB shape works too.
While New York and Washington worked on a deadline deal revolved around Amed Rosario and Clayton Beeter, there’s a new GM in Paul Taboni who would oversee this deal.
Since Mackenzie Gore has two years of control, the price should be high but not to the point where the team is thinking about trading Ben Rice to complete a deal or not.
The concern here is taking a risk on an injury-prone pitcher who keeps running out of gas by season’s end, but I think this is a better risk for the Yankees to take compared to Edward Cabrera.
No. 2: Completing the Yankees’ Failed Deadline Pursuit
It’s July 31st and the clock is winding down on the trade deadline as GM Brian Cashman has made a flurry of moves with others hanging in the balance.
Sean Newcomb was a player whom the team pursued from the Athletics before turning around and dealing for Camilo Doval, but Sandy Alcantara was the most prominent name whom the team pushed for on the final day.
Nothing came to fruition as Spencer Jones wasn’t included in the deal, and the right-hander who held an ERA nearing 7.00 at the time would finish the season strong.
The idea of adding a starter who had a 5.36 ERA and 4.28 FIP as your big rotation addition seems insane on-paper, but his upside and talent are what teams are chasing.
Sandy Alcantara’s stuff remained as good as it was pre-TJS, with the command being the big area where he struggled to find his footing.
During his first 10 starts, Sandy Alcantara had a 93 Location+ and a 4.99 xFIP, and in his final 20 starts he had a 105 Location+ and a 3.84 xFIP.
A full season to shake off rust and an offseason to continue refining mechanics should do the right-hander well, and it’s an excellent lottery ticket for the Yankees due to a variety of reasons.
First, the team would only have to guarantee his salary for 2026, having a club option for 2027 with an inconsequential buyout clause.
Furthermore, if the Yankees were unsatisifed with his performance during the regular season, they could prepare him for a bullpen role in October and have someone throwing 98-99 MPH fastballs in late-inning situations.
The final greenlight is the volume; Sandy Alcantara went from throwing 0 innings in all of 2024 to 174.2 in 2025, he is excellent at taking the ball every fifth day which is what the Yankees need right now.
No. 1: The Buzzing Name on the Trade Market
No pitcher on this list produced more WAR than Freddy Peralta did this past season, striking out 204 batters with a 2.70 ERA in 33 starts for the Brewers.
He’s been one of the top starters in the league since breaking out in 2021, and in the last three seasons he’s one of just 17 qualified pitchers with a K-BB% at or above 20%.
Peralta is also top 20 in ERA (3.40) and third in pitching strikeouts (614) as he’s the kind of pitcher who can overwhelm hitters with excellent velocity and movement.
Where there’s concern is with his ability to pitch deep into games, struggling third-time-through an order more than you’d like for someone who’d be a Game 2 starter for a lot of teams.
That being said, the one-year commitment at $8 million is perfect for plenty of contenders looking to ball on a budget with their rotation.
Peralta’s evolution into a well-rounded starter who can command the ball well and mix-in four different pitches has been amazing to witness from afar, and he could be a real impact arm for the Yankees.
It gives them a rotation with Max Fried, Freddy Peralta, Cam Schlittler, Will Warren, and Luis Gil out of Spring Training with Gerrit Cole and Carlos Rodon on the way.
Having upper-level MiLB pitching depth could be handy in a deal like this one, but I do fear that the Brewers might *actually* have too many arms for them to focus on adding a starter in a deal.
Pairing an arm with a bat would be their likely choice for dealing Peralta since they could just hold onto him as they did with Willy Adames, instead choosing to go for it and let themselves pick up a compensation pick next year when he leaves.
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