Yankees boost the bats, but are they done buying?
The MLB trade deadline is fast approaching. Literally. By the time you’re reading this column, there are probably only a few hours left until the clock strikes 6 p.m. EST. While there will undoubtedly be more trades to come as of the time of writing, there are already quite a few transactions out of the Big Apple.
The Yankees are most certainly in the “buyers” category this deadline, as is the case pretty much every single season. But they actually began their deadline transactions by sending away a reliever that’s part of the best bullpen in the majors. You would think that wouldn’t be the wisest idea, until you find out that it was their weakest link Camilo Doval.
On Saturday, Doval was dealt to the Pirates in exchange for a pair of prospects: catcher Omar Alfonzo (ranked 17th in Pittsburgh’s pipeline) and outfielder Luis Cruz. To say it’s been an underwhelming time in pinstripes for Doval since he was traded to the Yankees at last year’s deadline is a significant understatement. After a strong five-year career in San Francisco highlighted by his 2023 All-Star campaign with a league-best 39 saves, Doval couldn’t find his footing in the Bronx, posting a 4.63 earned run average.
The bane of Doval’s existence in pinstripes was his lack of control. While his velocity is still top-notch and can get into the triple digits, command has been an issue throughout his career with an 11.2% walk rate. While his 4.5 walks per nine innings is only slightly above his average of 4.3 with the Giants, his strikeout rate is noticeably down from 11.1 per nine innings to 9.4.
Knowing how Yankees’ pitchers magically get better once they ditch the pinstripes, it’s only a matter of time before we see the Doval of old. That being said, his Pirates debut did not go as planned, allowing a solo home run in yesterday’s 10-2 loss to the Reds. At least it didn’t play a factor in the outcome?
With this trade, all signs point to the Yankees bringing in at least one reliever to boost their already lights-out bullpen. Mason Miller is of course the prized possession as he enjoys a phenomenal campaign for a middling Padres team. But remember: Brian Cashman is still the GM. He always seems to underwhelm at the deadline, though that’s in part because Yankees fans have incredibly high (and at times unreasonable) expectations for who should be brought in. With that in mind, I expect someone like Adrian Morejon (the Padres’ second-best reliever) to be acquired instead, which is far from a bad consolation prize.
But where the Yankees really need help is with their hitting. They’ve continued to find ways to win this past week despite some more paltry performances at the plate, but those wins are paper over the cracks for their offensive woes.
Cashman sure kept that in mind on Sunday when they completed a trade for first baseman Luis Garcia Jr. for the Nationals in exchange for four right-handed pitchers: Jake Bird, Jack Cebert, Yovanny Cruz, and Ben Gable. For someone that’s batting .283 (which would currently be the best average on the Yankees) and leading the National League with a .560 slugging percentage, that’s a more than reasonable price to pay.
Now for the million-dollar questions: When and where is Garcia going to play? After all, the Yankees are very much set at first base with the tandem of Ben Rice and Paul Goldschmidt. The most likely scenario is that Garcia will play first base and Rice will be the designated hitter against righty pitchers, while Goldschmidt will solely play against lefty pitchers.
There’s also the possibility to move him to second base given Jazz Chisholm Jr.’s hardships this year. But Garcia is a poor defender at that position, posting a -17 defensive runs saved last year before switching to first base this year with much better results.
Just because they added one potent bat to the lineup doesn’t mean they should stop there. The most glaring need is a right-handed-hitting catcher. The combination of Austin Wells, Ali Sanchez and J. C. Escarra have been among the worst at their position at the plate in all of MLB. That’s led to a host of players being linked to the Bronx Bombers.
The most realistic option is the Twins’ Ryan Jeffers. Although Minnesota is only a game out of a wild card spot, that doesn’t rule them out of trading him away. The 29-year-old is batting .292 on the season, though he did miss a chunk of time due to injury. Since he’ll be an unrestricted free agent this upcoming offseason, he’ll be much cheaper to get than other catchers like the Rockies’ Hunter Goodman, the Orioles’ Adley Rutschman and the Athletics’ Shea Langeliers.
Even though this seems like the perfect fit, don’t get your hopes up too much, Yankees fans. Again, remember who your GM is. That’s not to say Cashman has done a bad job at all this deadline, but even the most obvious of moves don’t always come to fruition.
Mets cast off pitching, but who else is leaving?
While one side of the Big Apple is seeking to upgrade their roster, the other side is trying to gather as many prospects as possible.
This deadline should have seen the Mets in the same company as the Yankees as buyers. But with an appalling 47-66 record and a whopping 12.5 games out of a playoff spot, David Stearns has no choice but to sell. In a sense, he’s tasked with fixing up a mess that he created thanks to a myriad of moves that have backfired: Not re-signing Pete Alonso, trading away underrated outfielder Brandon Nimmo for a past-his-prime Marcus Semien, failing to significantly upgrade the pitching staff. Need I go on?
Well, I will go on about that last part. Perhaps the biggest letdown from their offseason moves is Freddy Peralta. Tasked with being the ace of the Mets’ rotation following an All-Star campaign last year in Milwaukee, he’s looked like a shell of his former self in Queens. The 4.99 ERA is already bad enough, but the fact that he’s not going very deep into games is the real concern. In fact, he only pitched into the sixth inning in just one of his five starts in July.
The writing has been on the wall for many weeks, but it was all but confirmed on Friday when he was scratched from his scheduled start against the Marlins. Then on Sunday, it was fully confirmed that he was leaving town, as he was traded to the Rays in exchange for three prospects: outfielder Aidan Smith (now #12 in the Mets pipeline), infielder Emilien Pitre (#15), and right-handed pitcher Gary Gill Hill (#17).
Given Tampa Bay’s excellent track record of developing and rehabilitating pitchers, the real winner in this trade is Peralta himself. As for the Mets, they shouldn’t have expected too much in return for an impending free agent who has struggled mightily this season. At least they can feel slightly better about themselves that one of the players they dealt to Milwaukee for Peralta’s services—Brandon Sproat and his 5.09 ERA—has not performed well at all this year.
Peralta wasn’t the first Met to be shipped away. On Friday, lefty reliever A.J. Minter was traded away to the Twins in exchange for minor league infielders Bruin Agbayani (#25 in the pipeline and the son of former Met Benny Agbayani) and Billy Amick. There was zero surprise with this deal given Minter’s in the final year of his two-year deal and has put up a 2.35 ERA in 23 innings with just two walks.
Those two trades won’t be the last the Mets make by the time 6 p.m. rolls around. It feels like everybody but six players—Juan Soto, Francisco Lindor, Nolan McLean, Carson Benge, A.J. Ewing, and Christian Scott—are on the block. In terms of who’s most likely to go, another southpaw reliever in Brooks Raley is almost certainly out the door, and she should command a reasonable return with his 1.96 ERA in 41.1 innings (UPDATE: Raley is off to the Phillies for prospects right-handed pitcher Luke Gabrysh and outfielder John Spikerman). Luke Weaver is probably gone as well, and he’s been even better out of the bullpen with a 1.84 ERA in 44 innings of work, as is fellow righty reliever Huascar Brazoban, who has a 2.56 ERA in 52.2 innings. (UPDATE: Brazoban was traded to the White Sox earlier this morning for right-handed pitching prospects Gabe Davis and Zach Franklin). Clay Holmes does have a player option for 2027, but the indication is that the Mets aren’t going to keep him around.
As for their bats, impending free agent Tyrone Taylor is the most likely to be shown the door. He is at least helping out Stearns by boosting his own stock with seven home runs in his last 19 games. Luis Robert Jr. could also be dealt, though you wonder how much the Mets are going to get from someone hitting below the Mendoza line (.197 batting average). He’s another reminder of how shambolic the offseason went down in Queens.
Are the Dodgers “ruining” baseball?
In the latest episode of “the rich getting richer,” the main character is once again the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The news broke on Saturday night that exactly zero people should be shocked by. Two-time Cy Young award winner Tarik Skubal was dealt to LA for three prospects: outfielder Zyhir Hope (ranked #25 on MLB Pipeline’s Top 100 List), right-handed pitcher River Ryan (#68) and right-hander Brady Smith (the Dodgers’ 17th-ranked prospect). Not too steep of a price for renting one of the best hurlers in the game.
The reason why this is not surprising whatsoever is that the Dodgers continue to play chess while the other 29 teams play checkers. Look no further than this past offseason where they added prized free agent outfielder Kyle Tucker and closer Edwin Diaz to the mix to a team that won the World Series the past two years. That’s not even including their moves in the few offseasons prior bringing in the likes of Freddie Freeman, Shohei Ohtani, and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, among others.
With a super-stacked lineup and rotation, more and more people are starting to ask the same question: Are what the Dodgers doing bad for “America’s Pastime”?
Well that question was asked to Dodgers’ president of baseball operations Andrew Freidman. He offered a terse response: “Personally disagree.” OK, so maybe not the most unbiased of sources when discussing this matter. But the fact the world of baseball is growing frustrated with how the Dodgers are seemingly sucking up all the talent like the Monstars did in “Space Jam.”
One of the biggest reasons why LA can afford to bring in so many world-class players is through a little trick called deferred payments. For example, of Ohtani’s record-breaking 10-year, $700 million contract, $680 million will be payed out in the 10 years after his contract is up. That means Ohtani is only earning $2 million per year during the span of his deal. Incidentally, the Dodgers currently racked up over $1 billion in deferred payments. That’s billion with a capital “B”.
This strategy helps minimize the Dodgers’ luxury tax penalties and keep a more flexible payroll. But since there is no minimum or maximum payroll in MLB, everything that LA is doing is within the rules and is not inherently preventing any of the other 29 teams from building a roster in their mold. With that being said, there’s zero debate that the Dodgers have a leg up on a lot of their competition as one of the largest markets in the league.
That leads to a preview of what’s to come this upcoming offseason. The MLB and its players’ association are at a crossroads regarding a new Collective Bargaining Agreement, as the current one expires on December 1. The league wants to institute a salary cap and a floor to theoretically level out the playing field, but the MLBPA is pushing back as they argue that implementing this idea would decrease the players’ value by evenly splitting the revenues between the players and the clubs.
At the very least, a salary floor is a fine idea on paper. It would force cheap owners to actually invest in their team and it would reduce the problem of tanking. But in practice, the owners would never agree to just having a floor without a cap. But the MLBPA doesn’t want a cap. That discussion will be all the rage once the World Series is over.
Speaking of the World Series, that leads back to the initial question of the Dodgers “ruining” baseball. Even with all the talent they have accrued, it is not guaranteed at all that LA is a shoe-in to win the Fall Classic. That’s the beauty of baseball: Anything can happen. I understand that might be a moot point given they’ve won the World Series the last two years. But remember that Toronto took them to seven games last years and were close on multiple occasions from writing a different story. As for this year’s team, while they are tied with the Brewers for the best record in majors at 69-43, they were just swept by a red-hot Red Sox team. Any team could have everything align at the right time and knock out the big, bad wolves.
Yes, it is annoying that the Dodgers added more ammunition to their arsenal in getting Skubal. Yes, they will be the big favorites to extend his contract and keep him in LA. But having one of the highest payrolls in baseball doesn’t always guarantee success come October. It’ll be more challenging to take them down, no doubt. But it’s far from impossible.
Other things that caught my eye:
- In the hours after I wrote last week’s column, some notable news came out from both East Hill and South Hill. Cornell University and Ithaca College each announced their Hall of Fame classes. It’s always fun to look through all the honorees and their remarkable accomplishments, and I wanted to pick out person from each school that stands out to me. For Cornell, it’s Reggie Baker Robbins. The Lansing native played an instrumental role in helping establish the women’s hockey program. Not only did she play on the program’s first three varsity teams from 1972-75, she actively recruited players to the team, organized interest on campus, and helped secure varsity status. More than 50 years on and the Big Red is one of the premier programs in the nation, and they have Baker Robbins to thank for helping lay down the foundation. You can read about the other members here.
- As for Ithaca College’s next Hall of Famers, the most notable inductee is an entire team. That is, the 1991 football team that won the Bombers’ third (and most recent) national championship. But I’m going for a different standout selection with men’s lacrosse’s Eli Gobrecht. The 2016 graduate is Ithaca through and through, having played on the Little Red under legendary head coach Frank Welch before playing under another icon with the Bombers in Jeff Long. A three-time All-American on South Hill, Gobrecht has gone on to have a tremendous career in the pros, winning two Premier Lacrosse League titles in 2018 and 2022 and is currently playing for the New York Atlas. You can read about the other inductees here.
- Speaking of the PLL, there’s another milestone watch for a Big Red alum. A few weeks after Rob Pannell became the all-time points leader in professional lacrosse history, On Saturday, CJ Kirst of the Philadelphia Waterdogs scored his 30th goal of the season in a 13-6 win over the Carolina Chaos. That’s now tied with Marcus Holman’s 2023 tally for the Boston Cannons for the most goals in a single season. He has multiple chances to break that record, the next of which will be on August 15 against Pannell’s Maryland Whipsnakes. Circle that on your calendars.
- For another success story in local lacrosse, we turn our attention to the U.S. women’s lacrosse national team. They were in Tokyo for the World Lacrosse Championship, and they once again came out on top to win their 10th world title. It wasn’t particularly close, as they routed Canada 16-4 in the final. Among the winners was Ithaca’s own Shea Baker. She’s done plenty of winning in her career, from multiple sectional titles with the Little Red to a national championship with Boston College in 2024. Baker is currently playing in the pros in the Women’s Lacrosse League for the Boston Guard. She was also recently hired by UMass women’s lacrosse to be their director of player development. Quite the ride for someone who only graduated from Ithaca High School four years ago.
