That had to be one of the most frenetic MLB Trade Deadlines in recent memory, particularly as the Yankees are concerned. It’s almost like Rafael Devers’ trade to the Giants jumpstarted the window and foreshadowed the wackiness to come. Carlos Correa returned to the Astros from the Twins and shifted to third base in a trade that nobody saw coming. Three of the best relievers in baseball moved to contenders, Mason Miller dealt from the Athletics to the Padres (for a hefty prospect cost), Jhoan Duran from the Twins to the Phillies, and Ryan Helsley from the Cardinals to the Mets.

Perhaps the biggest surprise of the day, however, was the Yankees pulling ahead as one of the most aggressive teams in adding to the roster. After an action-packed day, let’s recap every move they made in the lead up to and at the deadline. Afterwards, you’ll have a chance to fill out some polls about the Yankees’ business and outlook.

Third base facelift and stockpiling bench depth

Ryan McMahon

The front office knew for weeks that third base was one of the biggest issues on the team. Therefore, they got an early piece of business done bringing in Ryan McMahon from the Rockies for minor-league pitchers Griffin Herring and Josh Grosz. The Yankees opted not to swim in the deep end of the pool when shopping for their third baseman, Eugenio Suárez eventually returning to the Mariners from the Diamondbacks. However, the early returns on McMahon have made fans all but forget about Suárez. In his first five games with the team, McMahon is slashing .353/.476/.471 with four RBIs, a 174 wRC+, a handful of sparkling plays at the hot corner and the walk-off single in extras against the Rays on Wednesday.

Amed Rosario

A day after the McMahon acquisition, the Yankees picked up Amed Rosario from the Nationals for Triple-A arm Clayton Beeter and Rookie ball outfielder Browm Martinez. He improves the Yankees’ infield depth but more importantly he gives them a more impactful bat off the bench relative to the options they had with a 108 wRC+ on the year (and he already has one pinch-hit knock to his name in pinstripes). More importantly, Rosario can help make up some of the production lost against lefties with Aaron Judge out injured with a 130 wRC+ against southpaws.

Austin Slater

Much of the same thinking of raising the bench’s floor that went into the Rosario acquisition likely applied to the Yankees sending High-A pitcher Gage Ziehl to the White Sox for outfielder Austin Slater. He also kills lefties to the tune of a 136 wRC+ and can help soak up reps in the outfield to cover Judge’s absence.

José Caballero

The most surprising move on the player position side was the trade for Rays infielder José Caballero, the utilityman moving from the visitors’ dugout to the home dugout in the seventh inning of the 7-4 win in the series finale. Acquired for Everson Pereira and a player to be named later, Caballero leads the majors with 34 stolen bases and has played every position except first base and catcher. He instantly becomes the new backup shortstop and an unrivaled pinch-running weapon to come off the bench.

Bullpen rebuild

David Bednar

The Yankees first move to shore up the bullpen saw them land two-time All-Star closer David Bednar from the Pirates for a trio of Baby Bombers: catchers Rafael Flores and Edgleen Perez and outfielder Brian Sanchez. After watching Duran, Helsley, and Miller’s names fly off the board, you wondered when the Yankees would get their high-leverage reliever and they did well to nab one of the best relievers in baseball over the last two months.

Bednar’s is quite a story — the 2022-23 All-Star was so bad to start the year that he was optioned down to Triple-A. However, he must have found a quick fix, because he came back up shortly after and has since put up a 1.70 ERA and 1.47 FIP with 16 saves in 39 appearances since. His 33.1-percent strikeout rate ranks 16th among qualified relievers and he’s only given up one earned run since May 24th, nabbing NL Reliever of the Month honors for June.

Jake Bird

After landing a player who can close games, the Yankees shifted focus to beefing up the middle innings, acquiring Jake Bird from the Rockies for Double-A second baseman Roc Riggio and pitcher Ben Shields. Bird’s 4.73 ERA might alarm, but a 3.45 FIP and a look under the hood reveal someone who has pitched much better than some results suggest. He has a 48-percent ground-ball rate and is one of the better relievers in the league at limiting hard contact. A career home run per nine rate below one and an elite pair of breaking balls while pitching in the thin air of Coors Field is encouraging and suggest he could be a breakout candidate pitching at sea level where balls experience more drag and breaking pitches break more.

Camilo Doval

Simply acquiring Bednar and Bird constituted a major upgrade to the bullpen, but the Yankees stole the deadline reliever spotlight by acquiring another All-Star closer, pulling off a coup right at the buzzer for Camilo Doval in exchange for a four-man package: pitchers Trystan Vrieling and Carlos De La Rosa, catcher Jesus Rodriguez, and infielder Parks Harber. Doval is one of the premier flamethrowers in baseball, his fastball clocked as high as 104.5 mph. Despite losing a little velocity on the heater and sometimes looking shaky, he added more cut to his cutter and is leaning more on his elite slider, giving him a 52.2-percent ground ball rate and the best home run per nine rate (0.39) of his career. He has 15 saves in 47 appearances with a 3.09 ERA, 3.18 FIP, and 50 strikeouts across 46.2 innings.

Noteworthy departures

Everson Pereira is a familiar name from his 27-game cup of coffee in the majors in 2023 when he posted a 22 wRC+ in 103 plate appearances. He was one of the minor league names floated as a possibility to help cover Judge’s absence but Slater’s arrival made that unnecessary. He appears to have plateaued at Triple-A, with a mid-120s wRC+ this year and last while still striking out over 30 percent of the time.

Roc Riggio was one of the fastest-rising position player prospects in the minor league system. The second baseman tore it up at the plate, slashing .264/.370/.567 with 18 home runs, 45 RBIs, and a 170 wRC+ in 62 games between Complex Ball, High-A, and Double-A. He had risen to the organization’s 11th-ranked prospect according to MLB Pipeline and could well be the player it hurts the most to lose, but such is the cost of acquiring a reliever who is pre-arbitration-eligible.

Rafael Flores and Jesus Rodriguez were the Yankees’ two highest-rated catching prospects, Flores landing at eighth on Baseball America’s top Yankees prospects lists while Rodriguez had risen to 23rd on MLB Pipeline’s midseason list. Both had developed from relatively unknown international signings into legitimate minor league hitters, Flores slashing .279/.351/.475 with 16 home runs, 60 RBIs, and a 141 wRC+ in 97 games between Double-A and Triple-A while Rodriguez hit .300/.390/.404 with five home runs, 43 RBIs, 17 stolen bases and a 118 wRC+ in 85 games between the same two levels. However, with Austin Wells and Ben Rice entrenched in the majors and J.C. Escarra the next man up out of Scranton, the Yankees were dealing from an area of surplus to address areas of deficit.

Clayton Beeter had shown flashes of effectiveness in the majors after once being acquired in a 2022 trade with the Dodgers for Joey Gallo, but several injuries in the last few years have likely sapped any chance of him becoming a starting pitcher. 2024 sixth-rounder Griffin Herring was in the middle of a terrific season down in A-ball, flashing a 1.71 ERA in 16 starts between Hudson Valley and Tampa with a 10.3 K/9 and just three homers allowed. He would’ve been a fun name to follow, but now his path to the majors will have to take him to Coors (barring another deal). Trystan Vrieling progressed to Double-A after being selected in the third round of the 2022 MLB Draft but stalled out a bit at the level with a 4.36 ERA and 4.07 FIP in 12 starts so far. He’s a ways off the level of the Yankees’ top pitching prospects and looked unlikely to leapfrog those names ahead of him on the farm.

There was also a late trade sending Oswald Peraza to the Angels for Rookie ball outfielder Wilberson De Pena, the Yankees clearing space on the active and 40-man rosters for the slew of additions. Peraza had been serving as the team’s backup shortstop and third baseman, but the additions of Rosario and Caballero rendered him surplus to requirements. He could always pick it with the glove but was the worst hitter in baseball among players with at least 170 plate appearances with a 26 wRC+.

In the lead-up to the deadline, Brian Cashman said his biggest priorities were adding a starting third baseman, beefing up the infield depth, and bolstering the bullpen with multiple impact arms, and you have to say that he achieved all three objectives.

This deadline was another example of the Yankees converting their ability to develop catchers and thus stockpile depth into big reinforcements. In less than two seasons, the departures of Kyle Higashioka, Jose Trevino, Agustin Ramirez, Rafael Flores, and Jesus Rodriguez have helped net the Yankees Juan Soto, Jazz Chisholm Jr., Fernando Cruz, David Bednar, and Camilo Doval.

The renovation of the bullpen has been stunning. In Aaron Boone’s words, the Yankees now have four legitimate options to close games in Bednar, Doval, Devin Williams, and Luke Weaver. The additions help in the immediate term as the Yankees await the returns of Cruz and Mark Leiter Jr. from injury and gives the relief corps a ton of in-built redundancy to cover future injuries and so you can throw out a high-leverage arm even if you have several guys down for the day due to workload. When Cruz and Leiter return, the bullpen could look something like this:

Devin Williams
David Bednar
Camilo Doval
Luke Weaver
Fernando Cruz
Jake Bird
Tim Hill
Mark Leiter Jr.

The Yankees gave up a large quantity of prospects in all of their deals, but managed to retain the highest quality player. Though they lost several players on the top-30 list according to MLB Pipeline — Riggio (No. 11), Pereira (No. 12), Vrieling (No. 17), Rodriguez (No. 23), and Flores (No. 8 on BA) — they managed to hold on to their very top prospects including George Lombard Jr., Spencer Jones, and Cam Schlittler. They would have loved to add another starting pitcher, and Sandy Alcantara was the name they were most linked to in the hours before the deadline, but once the Marlins enquired on Jones the Yankees hung up the phone. It’s probably telling that prices were high for starting pitching around the league, and the Yanks weren’t the only club that couldn’t find a match there.

That brings us to our final task. We have a few polls that we would love for you to participate in regarding the players the Yankees acquired, those they traded away, and the mood surrounding the new-look roster. Also, since we’re skipping a separate article for Brian Cashman GM poll this month, get your votes in on that binary question right here!