Alexander Wilson
The Yankees have spent the last week making every bullpen inning feel like somebody left a match near dry leaves. That does not mean Brian Cashman should chase the loudest name on the board, but Kirby Yates is the kind of deadline idea that actually makes sense.
This is speculation, not reporting. If the Angels decide to sell, Kirby Yates should be one of the first relief names the Yankees circle because his season is not built on vibes. He owns a 3.06 ERA, a 0.96 WHIP, 25 strikeouts, seven walks, and a .159 batting average against over 17.2 innings.
For a Yankees bullpen that has been living through injury churn, late-inning volatility, and too many stressful finishes, that profile is worth discussing. Call it adult supervision, not a splash move.
Why the Yankees fit is so obvious
Yates is 39, so nobody should be pretending this is a five-year solution. The appeal is shorter and cleaner than that. He still misses bats, he has handled late-inning work before, and his splitter gives hitters a different look from the harder power arms the Yankees already cycle through.
The Yankees do not need another arm who looks fun for two weeks and then loses the zone when the room gets hot. They need someone Aaron Boone can use in the seventh or eighth without every walk turning into a full-blown event.
Yates has not been perfect. Two blown saves and a 3.57 walks-per-nine mark keep this from being a tidy brochure. Fine. Relievers are messy by nature, especially older ones. The trick is buying the kind of mess you can live with.
The Angels could make the Yankees choose quickly
The Angels are always the tricky part because they can talk themselves into staying aggressive longer than most clubs would. If they drift toward seller mode, Yates is exactly the type of rental reliever contenders try to grab before the bidding gets stupid.
I would rather see the Yankees move early on a clean bullpen upgrade than wait until every contender is desperate. The price on rental relief can get dumb fast, and New York already knows how quickly one bad inning changes the temperature of a whole series.
Yates is not the only answer. He might not even be the best one. But if the Yankees want a practical deadline lane instead of another panic buy, he belongs near the top of the phone list.
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