The New York Yankees have a 60-42 record and are just one and a half games behind the Baltimore Orioles in the American League East. Despite a challenging 10-20 stretch, the team still has a chance to bolster their roster at the trade deadline. Chris Kirschner of The Athletic suggests they might trade Nestor Cortes to acquire a starting infielder or left fielder by the July 30 deadline.
Kirschner compares this potential trade to the Yankees’ 2022 move when they traded Jordan Montgomery to the Cardinals for center fielder Harrison Bader. The rationale then was that Montgomery wasn’t expected to be part of the playoff rotation, and GM Brian Cashman wanted to strengthen the defense. Cortes, who has one more year of team control and retains value, could similarly be traded for a needed infielder or left fielder.
Despite the recent criticism the Yankees have faced, Cortes remains optimistic about the team’s prospects. On July 16, he expressed on X his pride in playing for the Yankees, emphasizing their consistent playoff contention. Cortes, who was the Yankees’ opening day starter, has a 3.99 ERA this season in 21 starts but has struggled recently, giving up 11 earned runs in his last two starts. The Yankees’ postseason rotation is likely to feature Gerrit Cole, Marcus Stroman, and Luis Gil, making Cortes potentially expendable.
The Yankees’ offense, which ranks 18th in runs for July after being in the top 10 earlier in the season, clearly needs reinforcement. DJ LeMahieu and Gleyber Torres, both underperforming this season, could be replaced at the deadline. LeMahieu is hitting .181 in 40 games, while Torres, despite a season average of .229, has been hitting .303 in his last 10 games.
Brian Cashman confirmed on July 9 that the team is open to various possibilities ahead of the deadline, acknowledging the need for improvement. Reflecting on the 2022 season, where the Yankees started strong but played below .500 the rest of the way and were swept by the Astros in the playoffs, Cashman hopes to turn things around this year with strategic acquisitions. The 2022 mid-season trades for Andrew Benintendi, Frankie Montas, and Harrison Bader did not yield the desired results, but there’s optimism that 2024 could be different.
