Upgraded Yankees aren’t done with trade deadline dealings

The playoffs are enough of a crapshoot that no team can make themselves bulletproof.

There is a randomness to a short series. Consider that through the weekend, the Astros in the second half were 2-0 against the AL-best Yankees and 6-1 against the Mariners, who were the majors’ hottest team, yet were swept in three games by the worst-in-the-AL A’s.

Still, every contender wants to make themselves as invulnerable as possible — to deepen their roster to fortify against the long regular season and to layer on as much talent as possible for the October tournament. That feels especially true this year. Because a premier league has formed within the major leagues that contains the Yankees, Astros, Dodgers, Mets, Braves and perhaps the Padres, too, especially if they add Juan Soto to their addition of Josh Hader.

And those super teams are going to push until Tuesday’s 6 p.m. deadline to play “top this” — the Astros, for example, deepened by acquiring Trey Mancini and Christian Vazquez on Monday. Sure, the Mariners or Brewers might surprise and go all the way. But the likelihood is that those premier league teams will have to get through each other — hit so much quality pitching, retire such daunting lineups — that to not be better when waking up on Aug. 3 would be a mistake.

To that end, the Yankees have made themselves better.

The Yankees — more than 24 hours before the deadline — had completed their main goals within this trade bazaar by upgrading in each bucket: starter (Frankie Montas), hitter (Andrew Benintendi) and pen (Scott Effross, Lou Trivino). Yet, there were strong indications they were not done. Which is proper. They are good enough to be champions and this is not the year to stop trying to improve toward that goal.

The Yankees plan to deal Joey Gallo before the deadline. Some of that was about holding off to see which teams failed to land an outfield bat like, say, the Cubs’ Ian Happ and were willing to play the lottery that outside New York, Gallo could be resuscitated as a power/walks/defense asset. Perhaps the Yanks were seeing if he could be teamed with another piece(s) to sweeten a return. Could they pair Josh Donaldson or Aaron Hicks with prospects to rid themselves of a good deal of those contracts and open roster spots to potentially better options?

By doing significant shopping early, the Yankees removed desperation while allowing time to be creative/opportunistic in continuing to impact their 26-man roster. This is a lot of turnover for the team with the AL’s best record. But the Yanks have been around a .500 team for about a quarter of the schedule now. They had grown particularly concerned about their pitching running out of gas. Now, they have greater depth in the majors, more to stash in the upper minors (Clarke Schmidt was optioned to Triple-A, for example) and — if all goes well — the ability to dream on Luis Severino and Zack Britton returning from injuries to help in September and October.

This was all made possible by building a stockpile of desirable prospects, notably pitchers. The Yankees have made 22 trades (not counting the purchase or selling of contracts) since the calendar flipped to 2021. The key acquisitions have cost prospects. The latest three trades involved all pitching prospects, except second baseman Cooper Bowman, who was packaged to Oakland with three pitchers for Montas and Trivino.

But they added pitching in Montas, Effross and Trivino in two Monday deals. They did not obtain their top pitching target, Luis Castillo, because the Yanks would not include Anthony Volpe. That made the Mariners’ offer more enticing to the Reds. Thus, the Yankees executed these deals without touching their top prospects — all position players — Volpe, Oswald Peraza, Austin Wells and Jasson Dominguez.

With Severino out, Montas was the key piece obtained. The word most often used to describe him is “bulldog.” He can dial into the upper 90s with his fastball, pitching at 95-97 mph and has a good slider and a signature split. His command can wander and missed two-plus weeks in July with shoulder inflammation. But if the AL title goes through Houston, Montas has started 13 times against the Astros since the beginning of the 2018 season and in 11 held Houston to two or fewer runs. In the last seven, he had a 2.70 ERA in 36 ²/₃ innings with 11 walks and 42 strikeouts.

Montas is protection now if Severino doesn’t make it back from the IL as a starter or at all in 2022 and since he is not a free agent until after next season, he can replace Jameson Taillon, who is free after this year and was one of those trades since January 2021 that cost four prospects.

Effross is 28, but will not even be arbitration eligible until after the 2024 season. He is a late bloomer, emerging after changing to a side-arm delivery for the Cubs that has made his changeup and slider particularly effective. He was ranked 14th in relief Wins Above Replacement by Fangraphs. Trivino compiled 22 saves and a 3.18 ERA last year but he had a 6.47 ERA this year for Oakland. Still, he was striking out 28.7 percent of hitters faced and the Yankees conceit right now is that they have skill in enhancing the success of pitchers, especially relievers — think Clay Holmes and Wandy Peralta, as examples. An opposing scout called it “an astute move by the Yankees. Trivino’s sinker is real and the Yankees infield defense is going to help him a ton more than the Oakland defense.”

Right now, Holmes and Peralta are struggling and the team lost the valuable Chad Green and Michael King for the season. So the Yankees wanted to upgrade bullpen quality/depth. Just like they wanted to do the same with the lineup by adding Benintendi’s contact skills. And the rotation by importing Montas’ power arm.

Yet, they are not done. The Yankees have improved by addressing each phase of their team. But in the premier league, the trade work can not end until the deadline.