The New York Yankees are 15-10 through the first 25 games of the season, sitting in first place in the American League East.

While outfielder Aaron Judge is making an early case for another American League MVP award and the Yankees offense remains among the league’s best, the pitching is another story.

The Yankees’ team ERA of 4.07 ranks 17th in Major League Baseball. Their starting pitching ERA of 4.69 ranks 26th in MLB, only ahead of the Athletics, Miami Marlins, Colorado Rockies, and Baltimore Orioles.

The Yankees lost their ace in Gerrit Cole for the season, and will be without reigning AL Rookie of the Year Luis Gil for the foreseeable future. While Max Fried and Carlos Rodon have been great, the rest of the rotation has been abysmal. The Yankees will almost certainly be in the market for starting pitching this deadline, and the best player expected to be moved is Marlins ace Sandy Alcantara.

Though Alcantara is off to a slow start in 2025 coming off Tommy John surgery with a 6.56 ERA across five starts, he’s just a few years removed from his 2022 Cy Young season in which he had a 2.28 ERA across 228.2 innings pitched.

Alcantara is seemingly a lock to be traded before the deadline, and his favorable contract with two more years of team control and a club option in the third year makes him a hot commodity.

Recently, USA Today’s MLB insider Bob Nightengale was on Dodgers Nation’s Dodgers Dougout Live on YouTube and gave an update on the Alcantara sweepstakes.

“I think they’ll trade him, probably late July. The beauty about him is you got him for two more years after this at cheap money,” Nightengale said to Dodgers Nation’s Doug McKain.

“So someone is gonna have to give up a ton. As much as the Padres gave up for Juan Soto, it may cost a team more than that. … It’s gonna be a steep, steep price.” While the price will be steep, Nightengale expects the Yankees to be at the forefront of those talks.

“I think you’ll have the Yankees doing everything possible,” Nightengale said to McKain.

“The Marlins will probably have about 10 teams calling on him willing to give up half their farm system.” The Chicago Cubs would be another team interested likely in Alcantara, but Nightengale doesn’t believe they have the prospects to land him.

He said the same about the Padres. The Yankees, however, have more than enough prospect capital to land Alcantara, which could be the exact piece they need to get back to the World Series this season in a wide open AL.