The Yankees already made one big move before the trade deadline – and it appears the second on is on the way.
According to YES Network’s Jack Curry, the Yankees have acquired RHPs Frankie Montas and Lou Trivino from the Oakland Athletics, the reported return going to Oakland being LHPs JP Sears and Ken Waldichuk, infielder Cooper Bowman, and RHP Luis Medina.
Montas, 29, is under team control through 2023, and has a 3.18 ERA and 109 strikeouts in 104 2/3 innings over 19 starts this season. He finished sixth in the AL Cy Young Award voting last season, and he last putched on July 26, allowing three runs (two earned) over five innings in a win over Houston.
Trivino, 30, has struggled a bit this season, posting a 6.47 ERA in 39 games, but he has 10 saves and has struck out 45 in 32 innings. The righty has a career 4.04 ERA and 9.5 K/9 in 263 innings, and had a 3.18 ERA and 22 saves for the Athletics last season.
He is under team control for two more seasons beyond 2022, as he entered this season just days shy of four full years of service time. Trivino is making $3 million this season, while Montas is making $5.03 million in his penultimate arbitration year, so the Yankees are adding about $2.7 million in salary for luxury tax purposes.
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Oakland’s return haul includes four of the Yankees’ Top 21 prospects according to MLB.com – truly Top 22 entering Monday, as RHP Hayden Wesneski, who was No. 7, was dealt earlier in the day – and two of what was the Top 5 pitching prospects in the organization entering Monday.
The top prospect of the bunch is Waldichuk, the No. 5 prospect per MLB.com, who was a fifth-round pick in 2019. The 25-year-old blossomed in the minors with the Yankees, and this season, he was 6-3 with a 2.71 ERA and 116 strikeouts in 76 1/3 innings over 17 starts between Double-A Somerset and Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
Medina, who moved into the Top 10 upon Wesneski’s departure Monday, is on the Yankees’ 40-man roster and is in his final minor-league option year. He has spent the entire season at Double-A, going 4-3 with a 3.38 ERA and 81 strikeouts in 72 innings over 17 starts.
Sears, 26, moved into the Yankees’ Top 20 on Monday and was the organization’s top depth starter following Luis Severino and Luis Gil’s injuries. The lefty had been successful in his first taste of MLB this year, going 3-0 with a 2.05 ERA in 22 innings (seven games/two starts) for the Bombers. He was also 1-1 with a 1.67 ERA in Triple-A, with 55 K in 43 innings over 11 games (nine starts).
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Bowman, 22, was the Yankees’ fourth-round pick in 2021, and he was hitting .217 with eight homers and 35 RBI in 80 games at High-A Hudson Valley.
With the Yankees also adding Scott Effross from the Cubs for Wesneski earlier in the day, they have now added two back-end relievers and a No. 2 starter to the fold, which will likely bump one or both of Domingo German or Nestor Cortes out of the rotation (either to the bullpen, or to a Triple-A rotation has been decimated with three losses Monday) and can help soften the blow of the losses of Chad Green, Miguel Castro, and Michael King in the bullpen this season.
The Yankees also acquired Andrew Benintendi for three pitching prospects, so they have now dealt eight minor-leaguers – seven of whom were Top 30 prospects as of the All-Star Break – for Benintendi and three pitchers.
Follow Lou DiPietro on Twitter: @LouDiPietroWFAN
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