The Yankees and Astros aren't just competing for the best record in the American League, they're competing over pitchers on the trade market.
They're looking at three pitchers: Giants lefty Madison Bumgarner, Diamondbacks lefty Robbie Ray and Mets righty Zack Wheeler, according to multiple reports.
Will be fascinating to see how today impacts outcome of American League in 2019. Both #Yankees and #Astros in on Bumgarner and Wheeler.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) July 31, 2019
Told #Yankes and #Astros are inquiring on Robbie Ray #Diamondbacks
— Joel Sherman (@Joelsherman1) July 31, 2019
There are several intriguing things about the teams' pursuits. For one, both were interested in Ray in 2017, so they have done groundwork on him. In addition to that, Ray has one more year of team control so he could cost more on the market. So while it would be a win to add a year of control, it could be a loss for whichever team gives up more.
As for Bumgarner, he is one of the best postseason pitchers of his generation going 8-3 with a 2.11 ERA in his career in the playoffs and winning the World Series MVP in 2014. But the Giants don't want to trade him, so he could cost a pretty penny to get. Taking that into account though, he is a free agent after the season who has the Yankees and Astros on his no-trade list. So there are several things to take into account here as well.
With Wheeler, he fits the Astros to an absolute T. He throws his fastball up and curveball down and has high spin rates. And at the same time, the Mets don't want to trade him to the Yankees for obvious reasons.
There are so many little storylines around these players hours ahead of the trade deadlin could be very entertaining.
The trade deadline is at 4 p.m. ET Wednesday.