MLB | Bryan Hoch: Recently, there has been an MVP-sized hole in the Yankee lineup. Rejoice. Because Aaron Judge’s return approaches. Judge took BP on Friday before the game and skipper Aaron Boone said the club is aiming to activate him Tuesday or Wednesday in Texas. Judge has been out with a flexor strain in his right elbow and will DH upon his return. That raises the question of what the Yanks will do with Giancarlo Stanton, who crushed yet another home run Friday night amid an excellent, albeit
injury-abbreviated, season at the dish.
FanGraphs | Ben Clemens: Among the bevy of moves the Yankees made Thursday, they acquired infielder José Caballero from the Tampa Bay Rays and sent former top organizational top prospect Oswald Peraza to the Los Angeles Angels. FanGraphs takes a look at the skillset Caballero brings to the Bronx, highlighted by his league-leading 34 stolen bases. He’s also a plus-defender, and swings the bat more successfully than Peraza has thus far in the latter’s young career. Should be a upgrade at utility infielder/pinch runner for the Yanks.
As an aside, it’s also worth checking out Dan Szymborski’s FanGraphs article on the Yankees’ bullpen additions of David Bednar, Jake Bird, and Camilo Doval.
The Athletic | Brendan Kuty ($): I don’t know that I ever believed the “we’ll only trade him for Paul Skenes” chatter, but the deadline has come and gone and Spencer Jones remains. The gargantuan slugger has annihilated minor league pitching after a down 2024 and he was apparently in high demand the past week. Now, the question is what’s next. Do we see Jones in the Bronx this fall? Is he dealt in the off-season as an extremely value trade chip? Or do we see him patrolling the outfield in New York in 2026?
TSN: Speaking of the rotation, in case you missed it, the Yankees downsized that part of the roster on Friday. Veteran right-hander Marcus Stroman is no longer in pinstripes, as New York released him. In his year and a half in pinstripes, Stroman pitched to a 4.69 ERA over 170.2 innings. If he’d pitched 140 innings this season, an $18 million player option would have triggered for 2026. Considering he was sitting at 39 innings thus far, that was highly unlikely. This seems to have been purely a baseball move.
More from pinstripealley.com:
- Yankees acquire Doval, Caballero at Trade Deadline buzzer
- Yankees get both quantity and quality in upgrading bullpen
- Yankees Trade Deadline Coverage
- Aaron Judge heading to the IL with a flexor strain
- Yankees 2025 draft tracker: 18 of 19 draftees sign
- Pinstripe Alley’s Top 100 Yankees
- 2000 Yankees Diary: The 25th Anniversary of MLB’s Last Three-peat
