The New York Yankees acquired starting pitchers Frankie Montas and Clayton Beeter, relief pitchers Lou Trivino and Scott Effross, and outfielder Harrison Bader while trading away Joey Gallo and Jordan Montgomery before MLB’s Trade Deadline at 6 p.m. ET on Tuesday.
These moves come only days after the Yankees acquired outfielder Andrew Benintendi from the Kansas City Royals.
With these acquisitions and the best record in the American League, the Yankees appear to be going all in as they go for a World Series championship.
The Oakland Athletics, who had been shopping a multitude of players during the last couple of weeks leading up to the deadline, sent Montas and Trivino to the Yankees on Monday in exchange for four prospects. The A’s return included starting pitchers Ken Waldichuk, JP Sears, and Luis Medina, along with second baseman Cooper Bowman.
Montas, 29, has posted a 3.18 ERA and 1.14 WHIP this year while striking out 109 batters in 104.2 innings, the most innings pitched in his career. He currently has a record of 4-9 but has pitched at least six innings in 12 of his 19 starts.
Montas is under team control through the next season and figures to step into a Yankees starting rotation that includes Gerrit Cole, Nestor Cortes, Jameson Taillon, and Luis Severino. Severino, however, will be out until at least mid-September with a strained lat.
Trivino, 30, has experience closing games as a relief pitcher. He has ten saves for the A’s this year but has an ERA of 6.47 through 39 games. Even so, the right-hander has a career ERA of 4.04 and will look to pitch for the Yankees in the later innings behind current closer Clay Holmes and hard-throwing lefty Aroldis Chapman.
Before the Yankees and the Athletics agreed to their deal, the Yankees made a trade with the Chicago Cubs to acquire right-handed relief pitcher Scott Effross. In exchange, the Cubs received right-handed starting pitcher Hayden Wesneski.
Effross, 28, began his career last year with the Cubs. This year, he has a 2.66 ERA, a 1.07 WHIP, and 50 strikeouts through 44 innings. Effross has not allowed any runs through his last seven appearances, which date back to July 9. He figures to also see work in the later innings for the Yankees.
New York's bullpen ranks second in the league with an ERA of 2.88 as of August 2.
After the trade with the Athletics and Cubs, Yankees manager Aaron Boone spoke to the media. “There’s no question we added more in those specific positions, high-caliber players,” Boone said. “On paper, we’re better. But I will caution, that’s just on paper. We’ve got to go out and prove it.”
On Tuesday, the day of the deadline, the Yankees traded outfielder and designated hitter Joey Gallo to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
In return for Gallo, the Yankees received Clayton Beeter, a 23-year-old Double-A pitcher with a 0-3 record and a 5.75 ERA through 18 games (16 starts) this season. Most notably, Beeter has 88 strikeouts through 51 2/3 innings.
Gallo, whom the Yankees acquired from the Rangers last season, has struggled mightily with a high strikeout rate. This season he has a batting average of .159 through 233 plate appearances with a strikeout rate of 38.8%.
Right before the deadline ended, the Yankees made one final trade. They swapped starting pitcher Jordan Montgomery for St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Harrison Bader.
Bader, 28, will most likely step into a depth and bench role for New York. This season, Bader has a batting average of .256 with five home runs and 21 runs batted in through 246 plate appearances.
As of August 2, the Yankees lead all of Major League Baseball in wins with 70.
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