{"id":802473,"date":"2026-08-04T14:06:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-04T14:06:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/802473\/"},"modified":"2026-08-04T14:06:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-04T14:06:14","slug":"for-yankees-trade-deadline-not-to-be-a-failure-so-many-things-must-go-right","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/802473\/","title":{"rendered":"For Yankees\u2019 trade deadline not to be a failure, so many things must go right"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK \u2014 The only explanation for the New York Yankees\u2019 shrug emoji of a trade deadline is that they believe they already had all the answers to their biggest problems.<\/p>\n

How else to interpret the buzzer sounding at 6 p.m. and the Yankees only importing a pair of formidable platoon bats but not addressing their remaining needs \u2014 help at catcher and in the bullpen?<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do think we have the players \u2026 overall that can compete for a championship,\u201d general manager Brian Cashman told reporters after the deadline had passed Monday night.<\/p>\n

The Yankees must have thought that way all along and not felt that the days leading up to the deadline were their best chance to bolster a roster that\u2019s been slipping in the standings for almost two months.<\/p>\n

For this to go right \u2014 for first baseman\/DH Luis Garc\u00eda Jr.<\/a> and left fielder Heliot Ramos<\/a> to prove themselves enough to be the Yankees\u2019 only trade additions \u2014 they pretty much have to be on the money on these five key bets:<\/p>\n

1. Aaron Judge will return from a stress fracture in his first right rib, and with enough time to prepare and be at the height of his three-time-MVP powers come October.<\/p>\n

2. Giancarlo Stanton won\u2019t suffer a third setback in his never-ending recovery after straining his right calf while advancing to second base on a walk, and that Cody Bellinger\u2019s timeline for getting back from a left hamstring strain \u2014 early- to mid-September \u2014 isn\u2019t wrong.<\/p>\n

3. Garc\u00eda and Ramos hit enough to boost the team\u2019s otherwise moribund offense until the law firm of Stanton, Judge & Bellinger is healthy. This bet got a boost Monday when Garc\u00eda crushed a thunderous solo home run in the seventh inning to give the Yankees a one-run lead in an eventual 13-7 loss<\/a> to the St. Louis Cardinals at Yankee Stadium.<\/p>\n

\"Luis<\/p>\n

\n Luis Garc\u00eda Jr. celebrates with his new teammates after homering in his Yankees debut. (Brad Penner \/ Imagn Images via Reuters)<\/p>\n

4. Clarke Schmidt (Tommy John surgery) and Will Warren or Ryan Weathers can become late-inning threats in the bullpen after Carlos Rod\u00f3n (elbow inflammation) returns, making everyone forget that the Yankees didn\u2019t trade for a reliever. This bet took a beating when relievers Ryan Yarbrough and Angel Chivilli combined to cough up seven runs in Monday\u2019s eighth inning. Chivilli got especially pounded, surrendering three home runs.<\/p>\n

5. Top prospect George Lombard Jr., whom a league source told The Athletic will make his debut Tuesday<\/a>, has to bring steadiness to shortstop after months of the club waffling between Jos\u00e9 Caballero and Anthony Volpe. The source spoke on condition of anonymity because the roster move was not yet official. The Yankees demoted Volpe late Monday night.<\/p>\n

If the Yankees nail that five-leg parlay, they should be fine. But when man plans, baseball gods laugh.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why it was so startling to see the Yankees not take bigger risks Monday in the trade market. Few rational fans expected them to match the price tag the Detroit Tigers set on Tarik Skubal before sending him to the juggernaut Los Angeles Dodgers. (Cashman strongly implied trading for Skubal would have cost them Lombard<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

But there was plenty of reason to think they would at least find ways to upgrade over catcher Austin Wells, who has been mostly terrible offensively, or give relief to a back end of a bullpen that has been overworked lately.<\/p>\n

Remember last year? Remember when the Yankees were in the middle of a summer slide filled with sloppiness and bad bullpen work, and Cashman spent a bunch of prospect capital to bring in seven players at the deadline, essentially remaking the clubhouse?<\/p>\n

That team charged in the second half and finished tied with the Toronto Blue Jays for the American League\u2019s best record, but actually in second place because of the tiebreaker.<\/p>\n

Back then, Stanton had just come off the injured list after nursing double tennis elbow for essentially the first half of the year, and Judge was amid another monster season. It was also the team\u2019s first season with Bellinger.<\/p>\n

This time it feels as if the Yankees were hedging their bets. They have no Stanton. They have no Judge, and Monday, Cashman seemed to leave the door open to the captain not returning this season, after months of insistence from everyone on the team that Judge will return.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that question is a fair question on anybody\u2019s side,\u201d Cashman said.<\/p>\n

\"Aaron<\/p>\n

\n Will Aaron Judge play again for the Yankees this year? (Wendell Cruz \/ Imagn Images via Reuters)<\/p>\n

Of course, it was also a weird trade deadline across the league, in many ways.<\/p>\n

So many teams waited essentially until Sunday and Monday to decide whether they were buyers or sellers. There weren\u2019t many big-ticket items to be had, either. Plus, the Yankees seemed to think they could pry catching away from the Colorado Rockies (Hunter Goodman) or the Minnesota Twins (Ryan Jeffers). Both teams decided to be buyers, though, leaving the Yankees to either blow them away with their trade proposals or roll with what they have behind the plate.<\/p>\n

The Yankees seemingly didn\u2019t try to blow anybody away. They paid a reasonable four-pitcher package for Garc\u00eda that included reliever Jake Bird, who had worn out his welcome in the Bronx. And they didn\u2019t overpay for Ramos<\/a>, sending the San Francisco Giants their Nos. 10 (shortstop Kaeden Kent) and 16 (righty pitcher Henry Lalane) prospects.<\/p>\n

Cashman held on to Lombard. He also held on to Weathers and Warren, who were thought to be expendable pieces of the Yankees\u2019 strong rotation. And he kept former top prospects Jasson Dom\u00ednguez and Spencer Jones, both outfielders.<\/p>\n

Really, by adding just Garc\u00eda and Ramos and not tackling the catcher position or adding to the bullpen, the Yankees must believe they already have all the answers in their organization. That, or that this roster wasn\u2019t worth what it would cost to fix it.<\/p>\n

The answer will come in how the Yankees\u2019 biggest bets play out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK \u2014 The only explanation for the New York Yankees\u2019 shrug emoji of a trade deadline is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":802474,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[363,369,1767,99],"class_list":["post-802473","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-mlb","tag-new-york-yankees","tag-opinion","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/802473","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=802473"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/802473\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/802474"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=802473"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=802473"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=802473"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}