The first-place Yankees continue to be aggressive at the trade deadline.
Just days after acquiring All-Star outfielder Andrew Benintendi from the Royals, New York has made a move to bolster its pitching rotation and bullpen.
New York has traded a crop of prospects to the Athletics for starting pitcher Frankie Montas and closer Lou Trivino.
The New York Yankees today announced that they have acquired RHP Frankie Montas and RHP Lou Trivino from the Oakland Athletics in exchange for LHP JP Sears, INF Cooper Bowman, RHP Luis Medina and LHP Ken Waldichuk.
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) August 1, 2022
YES Network's Jack Curry was first to report the deal.
MORE: MLB trade deadline tracker: Live rumors, news and updates
This was the Yankees' second move of the day to land more pitching, as they also acquired right-handed reliever Scott Effross from the Cubs in exchange for Hayden Wesneski, New York's No. 7-ranked prospect, according to The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal.
How do Montas and Trivino help the Yankees and what did they give up to get the two impactful arms? We have you covered with trade details below.
Yankees-Athletics trade details
Yankees get:
- RHP Frankie Montas
- RHP Lou Trivino
Athletics get:
- LHP Ken Waldichuk
- RHP Luis Medina
- LHP JP Sears
- 2B Cooper Bowman
What this means for the Yankees
The Yankees were looking to acquire another starting pitcher at the trade deadline and they found that in Athletics ace Montas. As YES Network's Curry mentioned, New York was in the mix for Reds starter Luis Castillo but it wouldn't part ways with its top prospect, Anthony Volpe, which led it to landing Montas instead.
Montas is coming off a career year in 2021 and has been rock solid in 2022. Through 19 starts, he owns a 3.18 ERA and 1.14 WHIP with 109 strikeouts in 104.2 innings pitched. The 29-year-old is on a one-year deal worth only $5.03 million, set for arbitration this upcoming offseason.
He'll likely slot into the No. 3 spot in the Yankees' rotation behind Gerrit Cole and Nestor Cortes, giving New York some flexibility to ride the hot hand with other starters like Luis Severino, Jameson Taillon and Jordan Montgomery as it chases the AL pennant this fall.
The Yankees also added some depth to their bullpen with Trivino, who has been better as of late than his season-long numbers show. The right-hander got out to a disastrous start to his 2022 campaign but after taking over Oakland's closer role at the end of June, he went 8-for-9 on save opportunities while posting 16 strikeouts and six earned runs over 13.2 innings pitched.
MORE: Frankie Montas trade grades: How did Yanks, A's fare?
What this means for the Athletics
Even though the Athletics didn't land the Yankees' highly sought-after prospects like Volpe, Oswald Peraza or Jasson Dominguez, they still made out pretty well in this deal.
The headliner was 6-foot-4 left-hander Waldichuk, who is ranks as the No. 5 prospect in New York's system, per MLB Pipeline. As ESPN's Jeff Passan pointed out, the 24-year-old has 116 strikeouts in 76.1 IP in the minors so far this season.
Oakland also acquired right-handed pitcher Medina (No. 10-ranked prospect), left-handed pitcher Sears (No. 20) and second baseman Bowman (No. 21), giving it four of the Yankees' top-25 prospects to continue to build for the future.
