Today was the Major League Baseball trade deadline. The Yankees made a few moves to try to bolster their roster in an attempt to win yet another World Series. The teams biggest need heading into today was bullpen help and that was where the Yankees focused today. Let’s see what they did.

The Yankees made an effort to strengthen their bullpen when they traded minor league infielder Ben Cowles and right-handed reliever Jack Neely to the Cubs for RHP Mark Leiter Jr.  If you are as old as I am you can remember both Mark’s father and Uncle Al pitched for the Yankees.  The Jr Mark is having an OK season at best.  He has a 4.21 ERA which could be better.  His road ERA is 5.59, not pretty.  And As I pointed out with Jazz, all of his game will be played outside Wrigley Field.  But it’s not all bad.  In July he has pitched 7 innings and not surrendered a run or a hit.  Not only that, he has 14 Ks in the month.  This is what the Yankees are looking for.  They need relievers who have swing and miss in their game.  Leiter has that.  His 37% whiff rate is in the 98 percentile in the majors as is his K%.  He averages 13.1 Ks per 9 innings.  His splitter seems to be his best pitch and the reports are that it allows him to be effective against lefties as well as righties.  

I haven’t watched him pitch but from the outside it feels to me that the high ERA means that when they actually do make contact, it doesn’t end well for his team.  He has only given up earned runs in 9 of his 39 appearances so it might just be that when he is off, he gets lit up.  Hopefully the Yankees can keep him from having those types of outings.  They do tend to make relievers better. 

More good news about Leiter is that if he is good, he can stick around.  Mark, like Jazz, is arbitration eligible for the next two seasons so he is not a rental.  I am always glad when my teams trade for guys they can keep. 

As for the guys who went in the deal to the Windy City, I don’t think it was much to give up.  Cowles is a solid at best prospect.  A middle infielder hitting .295 in AA.  The 24-year-old is second in the Eastern League with 25 doubles.  As for Jack Neely, he has been on my prospect watch a bit.  The also 24-year-old was pitching well since being promoted to AAA though he did surrender 3 runs in his last outing.  I mentioned Neely as a possible call up to help solve the bullpen issues but apparently the Yankees wanted to go with a more proven player.  I can’t blame them as they are trying to win a World Series this year and at this point don’t have time to see if a rookie can handle it in the Bigs.          

The Yankees continued to try and bolster their bullpen by trading for right-handed pitcher Enyel De Los Santos and minor league right-handed pitcher Thomas Balboni Jr. from the San Diego Padres in exchange for minor league outfielder Brandon Lockridge.  De Los Santos is a 28-year-old reliever who has been Ok for the Padres.  San Diego is trying to win the World Series so the fact that they gave him up for so little makes me think he is not that good.  Maybe the Yankees see something they can adjust with him to make him more effective.  He has a 4.46 ERA so far this season.  He has struck out 48 batters in 40.1 innings.  That’s not particularly good but not bad.  So far in July he has only pitched in losses or blow out wins so it seems the Padres did not see him as a high leverage pitcher.  We’ll see what the Yankees think of him.  If they like him, he can stick around as, like everyone else the Yankees have traded for this season, he has two arbitrations years left. 

Balboni is a 24-year-old relief pitcher in single A.  He hasn’t been good although his last 5 outings, each one inning, have all been scoreless. 

Lockridge is 27 and in AAA.  He is a middle infielder/ centerfielder and while he has a nice average, .295, he has zero pop.  He has stolen 34 out of 38 bases.  I really wouldn’t call him a prospect and is not a loss the Yankees will even notice. 

The Yankees last move was to trade Caleb Ferguson to the Astros for international signing money and RHP Kelly Austin.  I am glad they traded Ferguson as I was never a fan of his.  Of course, with him going to the Astros I am sure he will dominate the Yanks in big situations in the play-offs.  Austin is 23-years-old and in A ball.  He has a 2.21 ERA and 46 Ks in 36.2 innings with only 7 walks.  Those are not terrible numbers at all.  Who knows if he will ever amount to anything. 

All in all I like what the Yankees did at the deadline. It wasn’t too flashy but they filled holes. Jazz is going to fill the hole at 3rd base for the rest of the season and take over at 2nd in the future. They ended up not batting him lead off which I think it good because now he can use his speed and steal bases. You don’t want to risk running into outs with Soto and Judge coming up. Leiter and De Los Santos will hopefully solidify their bullpen. If their starting pitching can get back to what they were to begin the season, or close to it, they should be able to go on a nice run. Of course if Cole isn’t healthy and back to his usual self, none of this probably matters.