Jazz Chisholm Jr. has officially joined the New York Yankees after rumors linked the two sides in the lead-up to the MLB trade deadline. But New York doesn’t want to be done making additions.
The Yankees bringing in a new addition to their lineup should help a little bit. It will take more than Chisholm to make the lineup intimidating all the way through but it’s a start. The bullpen could also use some help. Clay Holmes, Luke Weaver and Michael Tonkin need some more depth behind them (or in front of them in the pecking order) to traverse the jungle of tough hitters in the postseason.
According to Jon Heyman of the New York Post, the Yankees are interested in plenty of relief pitchers. Their list includes Tanner Scott of the Miami Marlins, Pete Fairbanks of the Tampa Bay Rays, Kyle Finnegan of the Washington Nationals and “10-plus more back-end worthy guys.”
Plenty of relievers have already been traded and cost a decent amount of minor-league prospects. With only so many more options, the price is only going to rise. But if the Yankees are serious about upgrading, they’ll be willing to make a move.
Yankees searching for relief pitcher ahead of trade deadline
All three relievers that Heyman linked to the Yankees throw hard, averaging right around 97 miles per hour on their four-seam fastballs.
Amid relief pitchers, Scott is perhaps the biggest name on the trade market, especially since so many have already been traded. His stunning 1.18 ERA is a major outlier in his career but he did have a 2.31 ERA last season, so he is a legitimately good hurler, an expert at preventing hard contact. Plus, he’s a lefty and the Yankees' top three bullpen arms are righties. His fastball-slider combo has decimated hitters in 2024.
Fairbanks, the owner of a 3.11 ERA in 2024, has years of playoff experience, which is certainly attractive to a team that is eager to finally make a run to the World Series. The veteran righty only uses one main secondary pitch, a slider, though it’s quite effective. He
Finnegan was named an All-Star in 2024, along with Scott, but his pedigree lags behind the other two. The righty's secondary pitch is a splitter though he also sometimes uses a slider. His ERA this season of 2.47 is a career-best, as is his 0.985 WHIP.
The Yankees have the talent to challenge most teams in MLB but could still use some extra firepower to get them back on a winning track.
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