The New York Yankees need help behind the plate. Badly. And with the trade deadline less than three weeks away, two names keep popping up in conversations around the league.
According to MLB.com, the Yankees have been connected to Colorado’s Hunter Goodman and Minnesota’s Ryan Jeffers as potential targets. The reasoning is pretty straightforward. New York’s catchers have been awful offensively this season — a .178 batting average, a .526 OPS, and only 19 RBIs from the position, dead last in baseball. Austin Wells has all four of the team’s home runs from the catcher spot, but he’s hitting just .157 with a .499 OPS in 190 plate appearances. That’s not going to cut it for a team that thinks it can win a title.
There’s a catch though. Yankees general manager Brian Cashman has a history of being reluctant to bring in a new everyday catcher midseason because of the disruption it can cause to the pitching staff. So even if Goodman or Jeffers are available, it’s not a done deal the front office pulls the trigger.
The bigger problem for the Yankees
The catcher issue is real, but it’s not the only thing going wrong in the Bronx. New York has lost eight of its last 10 games and sits at 48-36, second in the AL East. The offense is sputtering, and a big reason is that Aaron Judge has been out since late May with rib issues. Judge hasn’t played in weeks. Manager Aaron Boone said recently that Judge is doing more work in the weight room, but there’s no firm timeline for his return.
Yankees fans are getting restless. It’s been almost 20 years since the last championship, and last year’s playoff exit to the Blue Jays stung. Boone is feeling the heat. The team is in action Tuesday against the Tigers, and every game between now and August 3 feels a little more urgent.
Whether Cashman actually makes a move for a catcher or stays patient with what he’s got, the next few weeks should tell us a lot about how serious this Yankees team really is.
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