Yankees Notes: Bullpen Trade Targets, McMahon, Cole

The Yankees’ 46-21 record is the best in the American League, and there aren’t many glaring holes on a team that has been outstanding on both the hitting and pitching fronts.  As such, the Yankees’ deadline needs are fairly specific at the moment, as SNY’s Andy Martino writes that the Bronx Bombers are looking to reinforce their bullpen with another left-hander, and a right-handed strikeout specialist.

New York entered Sunday’s action with the third-best bullpen ERA in baseball, so the current relief corps is far from a weak link.  However, Martino notes that “evaluators tend to slot [Caleb Ferguson and Victor Gonzalez] as the second lefty in an ideal bullpen,” so the Yankees could stand to acquire another southpaw as their top option.

Of the two in-house choices, Gonzalez has a 3.00 ERA over 18 innings but he has been drastically outperforming his peripherals.  Gonzalez’s SIERA is a much less impressive 5.65, as his walk rate (13.5%) is higher than his 10.8% strikeout rate.  Ferguson has something of the opposite issue, with a 5.03 ERA but a 3.62 SIERA in 19 2/3 innings, with a 25.8% strikeout rate and 11.2% walk rate.

On the right-handed side of the equation, a righty pitcher that can miss bats would be a nice complement to closer Clay Holmes, who himself throws from the right side.  Holmes is having another excellent year with a 1.23 ERA and 19 saves over 29 1/3 innings, though Holmes is an extreme ground ball pitcher with a staggering 69.4% grounder rate.  His strikeout rate is only a bit above the league average, however, so having more of a strikeout-focused power arm for certain high-leverage situation would allow the Yankees to save Holmes for the ninth inning.

As Martino observes, the Yankees’ knack for getting great results out of unheralded relievers means that the club might not need to pursue bigger names available at the deadline in order to fill these bullpen needs.  They might not even necessarily need to go outside the organization to find the right-handed strikeout artist, as Luis Gil might eventually end up in the bullpen as part of New York’s desire to conserve his innings.  Gil pitched only 29 2/3 total frames in the majors and minors over the last two seasons due to Tommy John surgery, and with 75 innings already on his ledger in 2024, it remains to be seen how much the Yankees will want him to pitch in the regular season if they’re taking the longer view of wanting Gil available throughout what they hope will be a deep postseason run.

Beyond the bullpen, both corner infield positions could be potential target areas, though Martino figures the Bombers will give the struggling Anthony Rizzo and DJ LeMahieu more time to turn things around.  LeMahieu has only played 10 games since a season-opening stint on the 60-day injured list, so it is understandable that the veteran needs more time to knock off the rust.

This isn’t to say that New York wouldn’t be open to corner infield help already, as Bob Nightengale of USA Today writes that the Yankees are among the teams who “would love to get their hands on” Ryan McMahon.  Adding McMahon would be more than just a short-term strike, as the third baseman is still owed roughly $51MM through the end of the 2027 season as per the terms of the six-year, $70MM extension he signed with the Rockies in March 2022.

While the Rox aren’t in contention and will sell at the deadline to some extent, moving McMahon is the type of bigger-picture move Colorado isn’t likely to make.  Indeed, earlier reports indicated that the Rockies aren’t likely to move the third baseman, as he is still viewed as a building block on the roster.

In other Yankees news, Gerrit Cole completed his second rehab start with Double-A Somerset today.  The AL Cy Young Award winner allowed one run on two hits over 4 2/3 innings, while recording four strikeouts.  Cole’s 57 pitches represented a small bump up from the 45 pitches thrown in his first rehab outing, and his velocity reached as high as 96mph, according to Ryan Dunleavy of the New York Post.

Cole described the appearance to Dunleavy and other reporters as a “pretty good day, still got things to work on…Wish I would’ve been able to crisp up the location quicker. Really, that was about it.”  Naturally Cole wants to be as ready as possible for his 2024 debut, so while he is set for one more rehab start, Cole wasn’t yet sure if he’ll require another outing after that.  The Yankees obviously aren’t going to rush Cole in any regard, and the rotation’s great work in Cole’s absence means there isn’t even any immediate need for Cole to return to the big leagues.