Things are … less than great in the Bronx right now. The New York Yankees entered the second half needing to make a major run to get back into the AL East and AL Wild Card races. They’ve responded by losing four of five to the Colorado Rockies and Los Angeles Angels, highlighted by an embarrassing showing against L.A. lefty Patrick Sandoval on Tuesday night:
This is the 35th time this season a starting pitcher has gone at least 6 innings and given up two or fewer runs to the Yankees’ offense.
— Chris Kirschner (@ChrisKirschner) July 19, 2023
With an injury-riddled roster, a woefully underachieving offense and three games to make up just to snag the final Wild Card spot, New York has reached desperation mode. Like, “unprecedentedly fire the hitting coach midseason” desperation. And yet, for as bad as things have gotten — and for as frustrated as fans might be right now — there’s approximately a zero percent chance that the Yankees sell at the deadline. There aren’t a ton of movable pieces, for starters, but more to the point: This team is still above .500, and they only have so many years left of Gerrit Cole and Aaron Judge in their primes. Hal Steinbrenner and Brian Cashman may not show the urgency that the tristate area wants to see most of the time, but this team will be trying to push for a postseason spot no matter how far-fetched that seems.
The trade deadline is Tuesday, August 1, giving Cashman and Co. only two weeks to reinforce the roster for the stretch drive and the postseason push. What do the Yankees need? Who could they target? Keep it here for all the latest updates and reports on what New York is up to.
New York Yankees trade rumors: Latest updates, news, reports
Judge’s absence has left a smoking crater in New York’s outfield, with Isiah Kiner-Falefa, Franchy Cordero, Jake Bauers and Billy McKinney (the latter of whom are both injured themselves at the moment) all getting a turn. Unsurprisingly, the Yankees are looking to remedy that, and they’re rumored to be looking at two names in particular: the Chicago Cubs’ Cody Bellinger and the Colorado Rockies’ Randal Grichuk.
The Yankees are closely monitoring the corner outfield market, and while Cody Bellinger seems like a natural fit, another name that has come up per sources is Randal Grichuk of the Rockies. He’s an impending free agent making a little more than $3M for the rest of the season.
— Mark Feinsand (@Feinsand) July 16, 2023
Another name of interest: St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Dylan Carlson, who’s squeezed for playing time with the Redbirds but was a top prospect not too long ago.
Per source, another outfielder has surfaced as a potential Yankees trade target: Dylan Carlson. The Cardinals announced earlier today that Tyler O’Neill would take over the LF job upon his return from the IL, so a trade of the switch-hitting Carlson wouldn’t be surprising.
— Mark Feinsand (@Feinsand) July 18, 2023
Of course, with so many holes to fill in the lineup and the rotation, why not kill two birds with one stone? The ultimate deadline prize, for both the Yankees and every other contending team, would be Shohei Ohtani — and at least one insider thinks there’s a chance.
Buster Olney thinks the Yankees will be the main team trying to trade for Shohei Ohtani this season pic.twitter.com/InU9kivynS
— Talkin’ Yanks (@TalkinYanks) July 13, 2023
New York obviously has the money, but do they have the young impact talent that the Angels would surely demand in return? Only time will tell. Either way, though, big shakeups have to be coming in the Bronx.
