2025 Yankees’ Trade Deadline Primer: Needs, Trade Chips, Possible Targets

The trade deadline is 6pm ET on Thursday, July 31st, so four weeks and three days away. The Yankees have a home getaway day against the Rays that afternoon, then they’ll play the Marlins in Miami that weekend. That opens up the possibility of someone having to be pulled off the team plane because they were traded after Thursday’s game, Rafael Devers style.

“If we can improve on things, we’ll try to do that,” Brian Cashman told Dan Martin about making trades. “… You try to go to the marketplace and figure things out, between what we have and what we don’t have, and try to run into some opportunities.”

Did Cashman say that last week? Last month? 10 years ago? He actually said it in May, but it’s impossible to tell with Cashman. He says the same thing every year because, really, what’s he supposed to say? “We’re going to try to improve the team and hopefully there are good opportunities” covers it. He just has to figure out a slightly different way to say it each year.

Anyway, the Yankees made at least three trades in the days leading up to the deadline every year from 2021-24 except 2023, when they were fading out of the race and frustratingly sat on their hands. The Yankees are usually active buyers and there’s no reason to think this deadline will be different. How aggressively and how impactfully they buy is another matter.

To date, the Yankees have been a really good team, even a great team I’d say, though they are flawed like everyone else. There’s room for improvement, for sure. So, with the trade deadline a month away, let’s dig into what the Yankees need, who the Yankees could move, and take a quick glance at who they could target (with more detailed trade target analysis to come).

What do the Yankees need?

I answered a mailbag question about deadline needs two weeks ago and I’m sticking with what I wrote then, but I want to expand on it. These are ranked in order of how badly they are needed. The Yankees do not have to acquire these things in this exact order though. You can go down Aisle 3 before you go down Aisle 1. Just don’t forget to go down Aisle 1 at some point, you know? Here are the deadline needs.

1. Second or third baseman. It looks like all is good now, but Jazz Chisholm Jr. running off the field favoring his hand/wrist Sunday* is a good reminder of the precariousness of the infield. Another Jazz injury and we’re looking at a Paul Goldschmidt, DJ LeMahieu, Anthony Volpe, Oswald Peraza/Jorbit Vivas infield. That fivesome is hitting a combined .218/.285/.357 (80 wRC+) against righties this year. That won't cut it.

* Jazz said the bat hit him in the finger when his hand slipped. The pain subsided after a few minutes.

To me, the ideal trade target would be a righty hitting third baseman, which would allow Jazz to slide back to second base (his best defensive position), add a needed bat against lefties, and lessen the reliance on LeMahieu. The Yankees have been very good against lefties this year …

• vs. RHP: .250/.331/.444 (117 wRC+) with 25 PA per HR

• vs. LHP: .259/.343/.446 (120 wRC+) with 28 PA per HR

… though it’s really top heavy production. Aaron Judge (247 wRC+) and Goldschmidt (225 wRC+) have done a lot of heavy lifting against southpaws. Cody Bellinger (162 wRC+) is out over his skis a bit against lefties and I’m not sure I trust Volpe (119 wRC+) and Austin Wells (133 wRC+) to continue at their current pace against southpaws. Another righty bat would be lovely.

Mostly though, the Yankees have had one below average (or worse) player on the infield all season long, whether it’s LeMahieu or Peraza or Oswaldo Cabrera. After watching the offense these last few weeks, yeah, go get a bat, and don’t rely on Goldschmidt/LeMahieu discovering the Fountain of Youth or the kids rising to the occasion. Second or third base is the obvious spot to add a new hitter.

2. Starting pitcher. Gerrit Cole isn’t coming back and we don’t know what the Yankees will get from Luis Gil post-lat strain yet. The rotation has been excellent overall this season. Yankees’ starters rank sixth in ERA, third in FIP, sixth in K/BB ratio, third in fWAR, and fourth in bWAR. The fifth spot has been a revolving door though, and Will Warren is on pace to zoom past his previous career high in innings.

I think we can all agree it would not hurt to add another starter. It never does. The question is what caliber of starter do the Yankees need? Do they need a high-end starter they can start in the postseason? Or just a back-end innings dude to help them cover games the rest of the regular season? As things stand, the postseason rotation lines up to be …

1. Max Fried
2. Carlos Rodón
3. Clarke Schmidt
4. TBD

… and that’s exactly what it was last year, only with Fried instead of Cole. The Schmidt we’ve seen this year will be one of the better Game 3 starters in October, and really, no team has a No. 4 starter in the postseason anymore. They all use quasi-bullpen games now with a starter going maybe 3-4 innings in Game 4, which is what Gil did last year. He was four and out in both Game 4 starts.

As a fan, I want the Yankees to build the best possible roster, so I say go get a really good starter you can start somewhere in Games 1-3 in the postseason. Bump Schmidt into the Game 4 mix, and have Gil and Warren as backup plans in case there’s an injury in August or September (or October). Fried, Rodón, and Schmidt all have injury histories. One pop and it’s Gil or Warren in Game 3.

At minimum, the Yankees need another depth guy to chew up innings the rest of the regular season. You can’t count on Marcus Stroman and Allan Winans, and I don’t want to lean on Ryan Yarbrough being that guy forever. Cam Schlittler? He’s been great. There’s no reason the Yankees can’t have Schlittler and a depth starter though. I want a postseason-caliber starter, but a depth starter may be all they need.

3. Righty reliever with velocity. I know changeups are the Yankees’ thing, but man, almost all the high leverage righties (Fernando Cruz, Mark Leiter Jr., Luke Weaver, Devin Williams) are 92-95 mph with a changeup/splitter. It’s the same look over and over. Jonathan Loáisiga is the lone exception, and you can’t count on him to stay healthy, nor has he been as dominant this year as he’s been in the past.

The Yankees lack velocity in the bullpen and velocity equals margin of error. The more velocity you have, the less time the hitter has to react. Here’s where the Yankees’ righty relievers rank in various fastball metrics (this is four-seamers and sinkers combined):

• Average velo: 94.1 mph (26th in MLB)

• 90th percentile velo: 96.3 mph (29th in MLB)

• Max velo: 98.5 mph (30th in MLB)

• Swinging strike rate: 9.0% (22nd in MLB)

There’s no one in the bullpen who can consistently throw a fastball by hitters. All the high leverage righties succeed by getting hitters to chase out of the zone. To put it another way, the Yankees need to add more variety to the bullpen. They’ve got the changeup/splitter look down pat. Now add some velocity because some hitters struggle with it, and the Yankees are poorly equipped to match up with them.

4. Righty bench bat. I refer you to what I wrote in the second/third base section. The Yankees have been very good against lefties this season, though it’s top heavy production from Goldschmidt and Judge, and neither Jasson Domínguez nor Trent Grisham have hit lefties this year. Domínguez has been much better against lefties of late (122 wRC+ since May 1st), but I wouldn’t say his swings look super comfortable.

The opponent will tell you everything you need to know about your team and opposing teams are still – still! – very comfortable rolling lefty relievers out there against the Yankees. It’s been a while since I’ve updated the plate appearances against lefty relievers leaderboard:

1. Yankees: 462
2. Twins: 453
3. Red Sox: 438
4. Tigers: 422
5. Phillies: 411

The ideal bench bat add would be able to play second or third to spell Chisholm (90 wRC+ vs. LHP) and also the outfield so he could platoon with Domínguez or Grisham, or come off the bench to pinch-hit and replace them in the field. Who is that player? The righty bench bat who can play the infield and outfield? That player may not exist (unless the Tigers are willing to part with Matt Vrieling, which I don't think they are). If the Yankees get a starting infielder, then an outfield bench bat makes sense.

5. Lefty reliever who can strike guys out. Tim Hill is doing Tim Hill things this year: 13.4 K% and 66.7 GB%. He is the only lefty mainstay in the bullpen, and a second lefty reliever, one who can miss bats, would be a nice complement. To get through the AL in October, you have to go through Riley Greene and Kerry Carpenter, or Yordan Alvarez, or Jonathan Aranda and the Lowes (Brandon and Josh). I’m not sure one lefty reliever is enough, particular when that one lefty allows so many balls in play.

It’s a fairly long shopping list, and I admit some of it is nitpicking, but I think there’s a clear need for all five of those things, even if it is going overboard to call them glaring weaknesses. Expecting the Yankees to address everything on the shopping list isn’t realistic. They only have so many pieces to trade. The more they can add though, the better. Leave yourself with as sound a roster as possible heading into October.

Who could the Yankees trade?

For all the criticism the Yankees get about their farm system and young players (including from me), they always have prospects to trade. The moves they don’t make tend to fall apart because they say no to the other team’s asking price, not because they’re told they don’t have enough. It’s more about what they can stomach giving up than what they have. Let’s sort through the players who could be peddled as trade chips.

1. Major Leaguers. As Cashman likes to say, no player is untouchable, but some are more available than others. We needn’t waste time talking about the trade value of Fried, Judge, etc. They’re not going anywhere. The Yankees love Volpe, maybe more than they should, and I’m comfortable saying he’s completely off-limits for them. If they do trade him, I’ll take the L and eat crow.

Domínguez and Warren have been made available in the past and I don’t see why they would be off-limits now. If those two are the key to getting, say, an impact infielder with multiple years of control, the Yankees would be foolish not to listen. I suspect it would be tougher to pry Schmidt or Wells loose, but not impossible. I don’t think the Yankees are eager to trade any of these players. It’s just that they’re the Major Leaguers with the most trade value. They're the guys other teams will want.

Is there a world where the Yankees flip someone like, say, Grisham for an infielder? It could happen, sure. Rental Grisham for a rental infielder would make sense as long as the Yankees also make a move to bring in a proper fourth outfielder. Doing that with Bellinger would be more difficult to swing because his player option complicates things. Ben Rice’s name was out there at last year’s deadline. He's probably too important to move now though. Stroman might be useful as a salary offset. Peraza’s time as a valuable trade chip has come and gone.

I wonder about J.C. Escarra. He’s a great pitch-framer and a promising hitter with some nice underlying numbers (90.2 mph average exit velocity, 13.0 K%, 11.7 BB%), plus he’s dirt cheap and controllable. He’s not young (30), but he’s young enough that you can expect peak performance during his pre-arbitration years. The Mariners turned Austin Nola, a similar 30-year-old late-blooming pitch-framing god, into Andrés Muñoz at the deadline a few years back. I’m not sure a team will fall for that with Escarra, but maybe. Point is, you absolutely listen on the 30-year-old rookie catcher.

Would the Yankees move out a reliever? Well, how else are they supposed to fit a righty with velocity and/or a second lefty onto the roster? Does it make sense to trade, say, Mark Leiter Jr. while filling his spot with someone else? The Yankees kinda did this when they shipped out Caleb Ferguson and replaced him with Leiter at the deadline last year. A Fernando Cruz, Jonathan Loáisiga, Luke Weaver, or Devin Williams trade would really surprise me. Everyone else in the bullpen is fair game.

Subtracting from the MLB roster at the deadline is not something contenders are eager to do, but there are times it is the only way to get a deal done. MLB player for MLB player trades are happening more often because more teams are in the race, and it can be the only way to get the help you need. The Yankees famously did this with the Jordan Montgomery for Harrison Bader swap. The days of guys on the big league roster being off the table are no more.

2. Rule 5 Draft eligibles. The Yankees trade from this group every summer and they are not alone. Every team does it, really. Managing the 40-man roster is important and that often means trading prospects you don’t anticipate adding to the 40-man and could lose the Rule 5 Draft. Last year the Yankees traded Rule 5 Draft eligibles Ben Cowles and Jack Neely for Leiter. Jared Serna was included in the Chisholm trade for that reason. Go back a few years and Diego Castillo and Hoy Jun Park for Clay Holmes was this kinda trade.

Here are the notable prospects who will be Rule 5 Draft eligible after the season:

• Catchers: Rafael Flores

• Infielders: TJ Rumfield

• Outfielders: Jace Avina, Spencer Jones

• Righties: Brendan Beck, Chase Hampton, Eric Reyzelman, Elmer Rodriguez-Cruz, Cam Schlittler, Trystan Vrieling

• Lefties: Henry Lalane, Brock Selvidge

I assume Schlittler will be the most asked about prospect from that group. He’s very good and he’s close to MLB ready. He’s who I would want in a trade with the Yankees. I think Schlittler’s in the “we don’t want to trade him but we will for the right player” bucket, kinda like Mike King. I see no reason to think the Yankees will make any of those other players off-limits, even Jones. They’re all available.

I will say that the Rule 5 Draft eligibles the Yankees tend to trade are guys like Beck, Rumfield, Selvidge, and Vrieling. The players who project to have big league utility but probably won’t be anything more than up/down depth for the Yankees. They can help some team somewhere in the league, so cash them in as trade chips before possibly losing them for nothing in the Rule 5 Draft in the offseason. The Yankees will trade from this group of players. It is inevitable.

3. Other prospects. Teams asked about George Lombard Jr. last deadline, most notably the Marlins during Chisholm talks and the Tigers during Jack Flaherty talks, and that was before Lombard really popped and became a top 25-ish prospect in the game. He will be the first prospect every team looking for prospects asks about. I think Lombard is about 98% of the way to off-limits. There is a player or a combination of players out there where the Yankees will say yes. I’m just not sure who that player or players are, or if they’re even available. Lombard is almost certainly staying.

Carlos Lagrange is the other non-Rule 5 Draft eligible prospect with meaningful trade value. He’s having a great season and it is the power stuff with good pitch traits teams crave. A year ago at this time Lagrange was hurt (shoulder) and walking a batter an inning. It’s a high risk/high reward profile. You wouldn’t have to try hard to convince me moving Lagrange now, before the injury/walk issues potentially resurface, is a good idea. He’s a good prospect, not a great prospect, and good pitching prospects with an injury history should never be deal-breakers. My guess is the Yankees are very open to trading Lagrange.

Last year’s top two draft picks, righties Ben Hess and Bryce Cunningham, have diminished value. Hess just missed a month for an unknown reason (he’s back now) and has walked a batter an inning in his last four starts. Cunningham’s sidelined with a shoulder issue. Lefty Griffin Herring, last year’s sixth rounder, is having a great season and checks the analytical boxes. I bet there’s interest in him as the second or third piece in a larger trade, though not as the headliner.

We’ve covered all the notable prospects in the system. Others like Roderick Arias, Kyle Carr, Roc Riggio, and Jesus Rodriguez have value as second or third pieces, but probably not as the No. 1 guy in a trade for a difference-maker. I think Lombard is close to untouchable and Schlittler is in the “only for someone who really moves the needle” bucket, and every other prospect in the system is on the table, including Lagrange. Ideally, the Yankees will trade from the Rule 5 Draft eligibles and ease the offseason 40-man logjam.

Who are some possible targets?

I intend to dig deeper into possible trade targets in the coming weeks with my usual Scouting the Market posts (here’s what I wrote about Chisholm before last year’s deadline). For now, here’s a quick glance at some players who have been mentioned as trade candidates leading up to the deadline, and others who could be available and fit what the Yankees’ need. This is by no means a comprehensive list.

RHP Sandy Alcantara and RHP Edward Cabrera, Marlins: Alcantara has started to look more like himself lately, though he’s still not all the way back to where he was before Tommy John surgery. Still, his contract is very affordable, plus the upside is immense. My guess is he’ll fetch more at the trade deadline than the 6.98 ERA (4.69 FIP) would lead you to believe. Cabrera’s always had a tantalizing arm (I wrote about him as a trade target last January) and he’s kinda sorta maybe putting it together this year, mostly because he’s gone sinker heavy and is throwing more sliders. Both are worth a deeper dive as we get closer to the deadline. For now, I’m just putting them on the radar.

RHP Jake Bird and RHP Seth Halvorsen, Rockies: Bird is the performance guy (2.68 ERA and 2.56 FIP) and Halvorsen is the stuff guy (111 Stuff+), not that Bird lacks stuff. He throws over 60% breaking balls with what amounts to a show-me mid-90s sinker. Halvorsen sits 100 mph and has topped out at 102.8 mph this season with two swing-and-miss secondaries (splitter and slider). A smart team is gonna pick up Halvorsen and turn him into an absolute MFer. Why not the Yankees? He’d bring needed velocity to the bullpen. Bird wouldn’t move the needle too much in that department.

UTIL Willi Castro, Twins: The Twins do not pass the eye test at all. Going into Sunday night’s game, they were 27-43 outside last month’s 13-game winning streak, and both their hitting and pitching are lacking. There’s just nothing impressive or convincing about them. Castro’s having a great season (.271/.357/.440 and 127 wRC+) while again playing everywhere. He’s important depth behind injured list frequenters Byron Buxton, Carlos Correa, and Royce Lewis, but Minnesota is fading out of the race, and Castro will be a free agent after the season. He’s a high-end version of Oswaldo Cabrera as a switch-hitter who can play anywhere you need him. You don’t have to try hard at all to see how that player could help the Yankees (or any contender).

3B Ke’Bryan Hayes, Pirates: There have been reports (not from the usual rumormongers) that the Yankees have shown interest in Hayes (Charlie’s son). Hayes might be the best defensive player in baseball at any position, though the bat hasn’t developed at all: .255/.310/.373 (86 wRC+) in over 2,200 career plate appearances. The underlying numbers aren’t good either, and he’s owed $36M from 2026-29. That’s a lot to take on for a guy you’d have to fix. Ken Rosenthal (subs. req’d) says Paul Skenes and franchise icon Andrew McCutchen are Pittsburgh’s only untouchables. They have a few other players who could help the Yankees. David Bednar, Mitch Keller, Isiah Kiner-Falefa, old friend Dennis Santana, etc.

RHP Zac Gallen, Diamondbacks: I was surprised to see that Arizona has used only six different starters this season. I figured it would be more after losing Corbin Burnes and Jordan Montgomery to Tommy John surgery. Gallen cooked the Yankees on April 2nd (6.2 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 13 K) and has been terrible against everyone else (6.18 ERA and 5.61 FIP). The D’Backs keep hanging around the Wild Card race, and they have a history of buying and selling at the trade deadline. Would they flip Gallen, who will be a free agent after the season, for a piece(s) with longer term control? Is he fixable? Rental starters with far lower upside will be moved at the deadline. I know that much. 

RHP Ryan Helsley, Cardinals: The Cardinals are firmly in the Wild Card race and I’m not sure what that means for Helsley, who will be a free agent after the season. Do they hang onto him and make a run at it? Trade him for controllable pieces and backfill the bullpen innings another way? I’m not sure. Helsley is a very hard-thrower. He’s also given up a .429 AVG and .571 SLG on his heater this year. Hmmm. Nolan Arenado, who the Yankees didn’t show much interest in over the winter, remains excellent defensively, but his offensive decline has continued (96 wRC+). The Cardinals owe him $37M from 2026-27 and there’s just no way they’ll be able to move him without eating money or taking a bad contract back.

3B Josh Jung, Rangers: I wonder about this one. Jung’s having a down year (.241/.288/.372 and 85 wRC+) and I get the sense the organization is growing frustrated with him, plus even his best years were more league average-ish than great. The Rangers could trade Jung and stick Josh Smith at third base full-time until top prospect Sebastian Walcott arrives, which could be as soon as August or September. Jung is only 27 and he has three years of control beyond this one. The next few free agent classes are short on quality infielders. There are worse rolls of the dice for the Yankees, even if Jung settles in as a No. 6-7 type hitter than a true middle of the order force. Hmmm.

OF Ramón Laureano, Orioles: The O’s remain well under .500 and well out of the Wild Card race. They have several veteran rentals to shop at the deadline, some of whom make more sense for the Yankees (Laureano, Zach Eflin, Gregory Soto, the resurgent Charlie Morton) than others (Cedric Mullins, Ryan O’Hearn, Gary Sánchez). Laureano is having a great season (.273/.348/.515 and 142 wRC+) and has a history of bashing lefties, though his performance has been skewed toward righties this year (173 wRC+ vs. RHP and 86 wRC+ vs. LHP). The role player having an outlier first half is always an iffy trade target (see: Xavier Nady in 2008), but it could be that Laureano is the best righty platoon outfielder on the market at this summer’s deadline.

RHP Freddy Peralta, Brewers: Everyone keeps applying the Josh Hader logic to Peralta, meaning the Brewers will trade one of their best players 1.5 years before free agency while still in the postseason race. It makes some sense because Milwaukee has pitching depth, but a) the Hader trade did not go over well in the clubhouse, and b) Peralta is their best starter. Despite all their regular season success, the Brewers haven’t won a postseason series since 2018. Doesn’t their best chance to win a series this year (and next) involve starting Peralta and Jacob Misiorowski as many times as possible in October? The Brewers have won 22 of their last 31 games and are solidly in the NL Central and Wild Card races. If they make Peralta available, of course the Yankees should be all-in.

CF Luis Robert Jr., White Sox: LouBob is having a terrible season overall (.185/.270/.313 and 63 wRC+), though he is hitting .268/.406/.464 (144 wRC+) against lefties, and he remains a top flight defender and baserunner. The White Sox aren’t picking up his $20M club option after the season. They’re gonna trade him for whatever they can get at the deadline, similar to what they did with Eloy Jiménez last year. Robert is only 27 and there’s a chance for a “he’s off the White Sox and not miserable anymore” dead cat bounce. A Grisham/Robert center field platoon could be excellent. (Robert was placed on the injured list with a hamstring strain Sunday. Tough timing for the ChiSox.)

* * *

There has already been one monster trade this year (Devers), though the timing on that was an outlier and not the norm. Usually things don’t pick up until after the All-Star break. Teams seem incapable or unwilling to multi-task. They focus their efforts on the draft in the first half of July, then shift into deadline mode in the second half of July. The rumors should pick up fairly soon though, even if the trade activity doesn’t.

We already know enough about the 2025 Yankees to know what they need at the trade deadline. They absolutely need another infielder and I think we all would agree another starter wouldn’t hurt. The caliber of starter needed is up for debate. Bullpen and bench help fits more into the “would be nice to get” bucket than “imperative.” The Yankees will add at the deadline. They always do when they’re in the race. It’s just a question of how much do they add, and how impactful will those moves be?