The New York Yankees announced on Thursday afternoon that they traded reserve bullpen arm David McKay to the Tampa Bay Rays for cash considerations.
McKay had made two appearances this year for the Yankees at the top level, not allowing a run and generating a 50% ground ball and 100% left on base rate. At the Triple-A level, McKay posted a 2.91 ERA over 21.2 innings pitched, featuring 10.80 strikeouts per nine and an 87.2% left on base rate.
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Per the Yankees:
Earlier today, the Yankees traded RHP David McKay to the Tampa Bay Rays in exchange for cash considerations.
Additionally, the Yankees added RHP Albert Abreu to the active roster.
Trading McKay was an interesting move considering the Yankees just finished up a three-game series against Tampa down south. The Bombers had success against their bullpen, convincing Rays’ general manager Erik Neander that acquiring another bullpen arm was a sufficient move.
While McKay likely won’t impact Tampa significantly, he has Major League experience across multiple teams, including New York, Detroit, and Seattle back in 2019. The Yankees had to open up another roster spot, as they sent Clarke Schmidt down to Triple-A and elevated Albert Abreu to the big league level.
Earlier this past off-season, Cashman traded Abreu and prospect Robby Ahlstrom to the Texas Rangers in exchange for José Treviño, who has been a gem this season. Abreu made 11 appearances this year with a 3.46 ERA before being designated for assignment by both the Rangers and Kansas City Royals.
Go figure the Yankees ended up adding Abreu and Treviño, giving up just Ahlstrom in the process. Albert features multiple pitches, including a fastball, sinker, slider, and change-up. He has blazing velocity at 97.5 mph on his four-seam and 88.1 mph with his slider.
All the Yankees have to do is give Abreu some time with pitching coach Matt Blake and they might be able to extract maximum value out of their former prospect. At 26 years old, he has plenty of talent left to untap, and Blake is the perfect catalyst to find it.