The New York Yankees and Colorado Rockies made one trade already. How about one more before Thursday’s deadline?
In former Rockies third baseman Ryan McMahon, the Yankees now have Gold Glove-worthy defense and a bat with upside at the position that’s plagued them the most all season. Maybe the Rockies can now help with another pain point.
The Yankees’ bullpen has been surprisingly un-Yankees like all season. Devin Williams and Luke Weaver haven’t been consistent in the late innings, and most of the other relievers have been either unreliable, injured, or both.
The Rockies have relievers with good stuff, though it’s hard to evaluate them sometimes because everyone gives up lots of runs at Coors Field. And for most of the season, Jake Bird has been the team’s most successful reliever.
On Monday, Ryan Garcia of Empire Sports Media predicted that the Yankees would acquire Bird, shipping infield prospect Roc Riggio and pitching prospect Elmer Rodriguez-Cruz to Colorado.
“People might be worried about (Bird’s) performance away from Coors Field this season, but it’s likely that the changing pitch shapes as he goes back and forth from high altitude is affecting that, and if he pitched for the Yankees I wouldn’t be worried,” Garcia wrote. “He’s also coming from a bottom-of-the-barrel development organization for pitching to one of the best; his already dynamic repertoire could get even better in the Bronx.”
Don’t be fooled by Bird’s 4.05 ERA; he’s had a strong season to this point. He’s punched out 62 batters in 53 1/3 innings of work, and he has a 3.09 FIP that indicates he’d probably have much better results in a different home ballpark.
Bird comes with team control through 2028, but the Rockies would probably still be excited to get a potential lineup regular and future rotation piece for him. Will the Yankees be excited enough about his potential to make that sort of offer?
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