The NL Central has been a surprisingly competitive and deep division in MLB this year. The Brewers have once again established themselves as the cream of the crop, but the Cubs and Cardinals are contenders in the Wild Card race and even the Pirates have shown flashes, with a record over .500 at time of writing. But after a 20-11 start to the season, the Cincinnati Reds have fallen precipitously to the bottom of the pack, and find themselves with virtually no shot of climbing back up the ladder to contention.
A shame, too, since the Reds have a plethora of exciting young talent, particularly on the mound. Additionally, Elly De La Cruz remains of the of the most exciting players in the sport. But Cincinnati’s offense has been shockingly poor this season, posting a 90 wRC+ as a team — tied with scuffling NL West neighbors Arizona and San Diego for the worst mark in baseball.
So with that in mind, the Reds will have little choice than to continue to build for the future. The problem: Cincinnati’s roster is largely comprised of young, pre-arbitration players who don’t fit the mold for deadline deals. There are still a couple of veteran players the Yankees could potentially take a chance on — but they won’t light up the sports talk circuit.
In terms of bats, again, we’re talking about one of the worst hitting teams in baseball here. Much of their good production has come from guys like De La Cruz and rookie Sal Stewart. J.J. Bleday has come into his own as a strong lefty bat for the Reds after signing on a one-year deal, but still has a few more arb years ahead of him. As an outfielder, there’s little roster fit anyway unless somebody suffers an injury that sidelines them indefinitely. And let’s just say that a coveted bat from last year’s trade deadline, Eugenio Suárez, does not project to be a difference-maker at third base this time around.
There is one interesting opportunity for the Yankees to make a potential upgrade: behind the plate. Cincinnati’s catcher tandem of Tyler Stephenson and old friend Jose Trevino could be available. Reuniting with Trevino would mitigate the friction generally associated with trading for a catcher at the deadline, since he’s a familiar face. Obviously, we know his offensive ceiling is limited — so Stevenson would present a more tangible upgrade.
Stephenson is a pending free agent with a power hitter’s build who has a career 102 wRC+; though he’s fallen short of that mark in 2026. The 6-foot-3, 225 pound righty hit 19 homers as part of a career year in 2024, and it’s not inconceivable that the stick could come along. The problem lies in his defense. Stephenson has always been a poor framer by MLB standards, but his -10 catcher framing runs this season is the poorest mark in baseball, with nobody particularly close. The Yankees are known for developing elite framers, but it’s hard to imagine Stephenson’s results improving over the course of a few short months as he tries to learn a challenging pitching staff on the fly.
The remaining options of note for the Reds lie in the pitching staff. The bullpen is where you’ll find more veterans: guys like Brock Burke, Sam Moll, and the undefeatable Tejay Antone, who has persevered through three Tommy John surgeries. Burke and Moll both have a tendency to walk a lot of batters, and Antone obviously has quite the history. Pierce Johnson is a breaking-ball-first veteran who pitched well last season and got off to a strong start to this year. Again, we’re not talking about household names here.
The Reds’ biggest player development successes have come in their starting rotation, and it’s hard to imagine the Yankees will care to pay the price for guys like Andrew Aboott and the recently-returned Hunter Greene. Brady Singer has put together a couple of good recent seasons, and could be available as a back-of-the-rotation arm. Singer has battled to a 4.72 ERA this year, and lacks a truly elite pitch, so there should be higher-quality options if the Yankees feel compelled to add rotation depth.
Cincinnati is in a weird spot — they don’t fit the traditional mold in terms of sellers, with few veterans performing well enough to command a lot of attention. As such, it’s not very likely we’ll see a new face from the Queen City come to the Bronx ahead of this month’s deadline.
