The Yankees have woken up on deadline day. With trades flying around, New York GM Brian Cashman is in on the party, adding another bat to the lineup. The Yankees will be acquiring outfielder Heliot Ramos from the San Francisco Giants. Let’s get into a trade summary, a reaction, and updated odds.
Ramos, 26, has a .726 OPS with nine home runs this season. He has hit 20+ home runs in back-to-back seasons for the Giants, no small feat while playing your home games in San Francisco. That includes a breakout, All-Star campaign in 2024, but Ramos has somewhat plateaued since then. There’s a lot of swing-and-miss to his game that has yet to be solved, and he has been a league-average bat on balance despite the home run totals. While he has a good arm, he’s not a good defensive outfielder, even by left field standards.
It’s a bet by the Yankees that they can coax more out of his game in the next few years, as he’s arbitration-eligible for the first time this winter and will be under team control for three and a half years. With the rash of injuries that have hit their outfield and the impending free agency of Trent Grisham, depth was more than necessary for the Yankees, and Ramos can be just that.
Though the full package going back is not yet known, it appears the Giants did well for themselves here. Left-handed pitcher Henry LaLane, New York’s 5th-best prospect according to MLB Pipeline, is the headliner. The 6-foot-7 hurler has added a lot of speed to his fastball this year, topping out at 98 mph. After a couple of down years, he’s on the rise again in A-ball, posting a 2.77 ERA with 98 strikeouts in 78 innings. His changeup is quite the weapon as well. San Francisco has done a lot of work to bolster their minor league pitching this year, and LaLane becomes one of the biggest arms in the system.
According to MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand, second base prospect Kaeden Kent is heading to the Bay as well. It’s a homecoming of sorts for the son of Jeff Kent, a recent HOF inductee and Giants legend. Funny enough, Kent will be playing the same position as his dad on the same infield if all goes well. Kent has good power that’s more based on line drives than towering fly balls, which theoretically plays well in Oracle Park, and is a savvy cornerstone fielder. MLB Pipeline ranks Kent as the 13th-best prospect in New York’s system. He joins a Giants farm system loaded with infield prospects, including Luis Hernandez, Josuar Gonzalez, Jhonny Level, Parks Harber, and Gavin Kilen.
It’s unclear whether more players are going to San Francisco, but if it’s just the two prospects, they did quite well for themselves. Ramos is a talented but flawed outfielder, and the Casey Schmitt breakout has left them with a logjam between third base and left field. His time in the Bay was running out, and getting a top prospect in return plus a solid flier is good business for Buster Posey. That doesn’t make the Yankees losers here; they needed outfield depth badly and, when healthy, won’t need Ramos to play every day. He can mash left-handers at Yankee Stadium and make them quite happy — a good deal for both sides.
Currently, the Yankees are second in World Series odds on DraftKings Sportsbook. However, they still trail the Tampa Bay Rays in the AL East, and the Boston Red Sox are creeping up on them. Moves were needed at the deadline to stay favorites in the AL, and a pair of bats in Ramos and Luis Garcia Jr. isn’t bad at all. Perhaps Cashman has something else up his sleeve before the deadline ends.
