The Yankees are going all in with the MLB Trade Deadline nearly upon the baseball world. Hours after the Yankees picked up a reliever, they went out and added right-handed starter Frankie Montas and right-handed reliever Lou Trivino in a deal with the Oakland Athletics.
As part of the deal, the Yankees are sending pitchers JP Sears, Ken Waldichuk and Luis Medina, along with Cooper Bowman to the Athletics. The deal was part of a very busy trade deadline by general manager Brian Cashman and bolstered the Yankees pitching staff heading into the final two months of the regular season.
The flurry of deals, which also included acquiring Andrew Benintendi last week, all came without the Yankees having to shed more than one of their top five prospects. Cashman addressed all of the Yankees’ needs after a rocky end to the month of July.
The Yankees had been linked to Montas for the past few weeks, along with starter Luis Castillo who was eventually dealt by the Cincinnati Reds to the Seattle Mariners. Castillo confirmed during a chat with reporters at Yankee Stadium on Monday that the Yankees had been one of the teams in on him and he indicated he had tried to impress them during his last start in July in the Bronx.
Montas was the second-best starter on the market heading into the deadline and will be a big help for the Yankees as they wait to see how long Luis Severino takes to return to the rotation.
New York has also seen Jameson Taillon struggle this season and Jordan Montgomery has had some tough outings, including on Sunday against the Kansas City Royals. In 19 starts this year Montas has a 3.18 ERA and a 1.13 WHIP with 109 strikeouts.
Trivino has appeared in 32 innings for Oakland this season and struck out 45 batters.
New York had entered Monday’s series opener with Seattle with a 69-34 record and an 11.5 game lead over the Toronto Blue Jays in the AL East.
