The Major League Baseball trade deadline is August 3rd at 6 p.m. ET, which may seem like a while away at first glance, but given how fast the season moves, it won’t be long before rumors swirl and moves are made. Every playoff team (and non-playoff team) will want in on the action for the right price, including the Yankees, who may not have as many organizational needs and different priorities than previous seasons, but are still looking to bolster their offense and pitching where they can.
One of
the teams that could line up with them is the Minnesota Twins. They currently sit with a 40-45 record in the American League Central, which is both five games ahead of the bottom and four and a half games behind the leading Chicago White Sox. What the Twins plan to do at the deadline is going to come down to the results of the next few series, including a three-game set on July 4th weekend in the Bronx, but if things go awry, the Yankees may be able to add some help on their road to the postseason and hunt for the AL East.
There are a few targets that the Yankees could prioritize before or on deadline day. The first name that comes to mind is catcher Ryan Jeffers.
Jeffers is a right-handed hitting catcher who is a free agent at the end of the year and has struggled with injuries so far this season. He has played in just 37 of the 85 games the Twins have completed this season, which isn’t ideal for a team looking to bolster their backstop position in the long run, especially at the trade deadline.
But the good news is that in those 37 games, Jeffers has been fantastic. He’s slashing .295/.408/.541 for an OPS of .949 and an OPS+ of 162, which would easily be a career-high. He’s already over a third of the way to his career-high in RBI as well, which he established in 2024 with 64. After sustaining his injury (a fractured left hamate bone), he has continued to rehab and, despite no official return timeline, has been making good progress and could be back in time for the Yankees to acquire him.
Another name from the Twins that could be on the Yankees’ radar is left-handed throwing reliever Taylor Rogers. At prior deadlines, especially last season’s, Yankees fans have seen general manager Brian Cashman go out and take a chance on pitchers with high ERAs but who look better in more in-depth analytics. He trusts Matt Blake and his pitching staff to make adjustments where needed and find the points in their arsenals to emphasize in order to make their repertoire more lethal. Rogers is one of those pitchers this season. His 6.16 ERA is extremely inflated due to high BABIP and career-low groundball and strikeout rates. His three-pitch arsenal of sweeper, sinker, and cutter offers some different looks to what’s currently in the Yankees bullpen, and considering their struggles with left-handed hitters this season, a left-handed reliever that they can buy low on could be a good, cost-effective decision to make.
The biggest name with potential to be dealt (especially after rumors swirling about him at last year’s deadline) is right-handed pitcher Joe Ryan. The Yankees don’t really have the biggest need for an ace-caliber starting pitcher that could cost a lot out of the prospect pool, but if the price is right, it’s hard to say there will be any complaints from the Yankees faithful. Ryan is living up to the ace moniker this season as well. In 93.1 innings pitched, he’s working with a 3.18 ERA, which would be a career high, and he’s well on pace to surpass his career-high in fWAR with 2.7 already collected in 2026.
For the Yankees, though, it would be an interesting play to make, seeing as how Ryan only has one more year of arbitration before hitting free agency. The price tag for him would have to be very fair, and one that wouldn’t cost them loads of pieces and prospects. But adding an ace-caliber hurler for a low price in order to ensure that the rotation is bolstered for a deep playoff run against teams with excellent lineups could be a worthwhile strategy, given that past deep runs have required as many great pitching performances to make up for poor hitting. A right-handed group of pitchers that includes Gerrit Cole, Cam Schlittler, and Joe Ryan (assuming the fact that Will Warren would likely be moved or transferred to the bullpen), along with the arms of Max Fried and Carlos Rodón, would certainly solidify the Yankees as having the best rotation in the league, but that could also be an overabundance of goods in the closet for Aaron Boone and company.
