Shoulder injury to Yankees’ No. 4 prospect just nuked Cashman’s trade deadline plans

The New York Yankees had a blueprint for the trade deadline. And a 23-year-old right-hander with a sore shoulder just ripped it up.

Carlos Lagrange, the club’s No. 4 prospect and No. 83 overall in baseball, suffered a shoulder injury that’s going to keep him off a mound for at least six weeks. Bryan Hoch of MLB.com reported the news, and it’s a real gut punch for a front office that was counting on Lagrange to help patch up the bullpen down the stretch.

Brian Cashman had a plan. Move Lagrange from the Triple-A rotation to the bullpen, get him some looks as a reliever, and maybe — maybe — bring him up to the big club before the August 3 trade deadline. That would have given the Yankees an internal upgrade without having to give up prospects in a deal.

“The whole purpose of the transition was it gave us enough time to evaluate what he looks like out of the pen, and maybe even get him up here before the Deadline at some point,” Cashman said. “It just wasn’t meant to be.”

So now what?

The Yankees are sitting 5.0 games behind the Rays in the AL East, but they’re comfortably in the wild-card mix as the All-Star break approaches. That’s not a bad spot. But the bullpen has looked shaky at times, and having a power arm like Lagrange — even in a limited role — would have been a nice safety net.

Lagrange had been struggling as a starter, which is why New York made the switch. The idea was that his stuff would play up in shorter outings, and the organization could fast-track him to MLB without the developmental headaches that come with ironing out a starter’s command issues. It made sense on paper. It just didn’t work out.

Now the front office has to figure out whether to pivot to a trade for a reliever or roll with what they’ve got. Cashman has never been shy about making a splash, but the asking prices for rental arms this time of year are usually steep. With Lagrange out, the need becomes more obvious — but also more expensive to fill.

This isn’t a season-altering injury for the franchise. Lagrange is still a top prospect, and six weeks is not a career-ender. But for a team trying to close the gap on Tampa Bay and make a deep October run, losing a potential internal boost right before the deadline stings. Cashman’s to-do list just got a little longer.