Getty
Yankees manager Aaron Boone could use another lefty to work with.
The New York Yankees still sit comfortably in first place in the American League East with the second-best record in the AL at 35-22, despite hitting a speed bump in Los Angeles this weekend. The Bronx Bombers have dropped the first two contests of a three-game rematch of the 2024 World Series, including an 18-2 drubbing on Saturday.
Despite their enviable position in the race to make the postseason, the Yankees may still need help in the starting rotation. For basically the entire season, media and fan speculation has centered around Miami Marlins ace Sandy Alcantara, the National League 2022 Cy Young winner, as a top trade target.
Top Trade Target Pitching Himself Out of The Picture
But Alcantara, as he haltingly works his way back from Tommy John surgery, has become a risky proposition. Since returning to the Miami mound, the onetime ace who from 2018 to 2022 had never recorded an ERA above 3.88 simply has not been good.
His ERA stands at a whopping 8.47, and he leads the NL in earned runs allowed with 48 through 11 starts. His WHIP is a sky-high 1.67 and even his fielding-independent pitching (FIP) is a dangerous 5.38 — indicating that even though Alcantara has been hurt by the Marlins’ shaky defense, with taking defense out of the equation he has still been bad.
With Alcantara seemingly out of the trade picture for now, Sara Molnick — an MLB analyst for Pinstripes Nation — proposed an alternative in a piece published Saturday, a pitcher who would cost the Yankees much less than the price tag even a faltering Alcantara would command.
“If durability and consistency are what (Yankees general manager) Brian Cashman is prioritizing, Tyler Anderson’s profile fits snugly into the Yankees’ plans,” Molnick wrote, suggesting the 35-year-old Los Angeles Angels lefty as a trade candidate for New York. “Anderson was named an All-Star in two of the past three seasons and has made at least 27 starts in every full campaign since 2021. The Yankees — no strangers to dealing with pitcher injuries — could use a left-handed workhorse capable of logging quality innings without drama.”
The Yankees have indeed been beset by pitching staff injuries all season, headlined by 2023 AL Cy Young winner Garret Cole who will miss the entire season with a Tommy John procedure of his own.
Workhorse Anderson Could Take Burden Off Yankee ‘Pen
Last year’s Rookie of the Year Luis Gil also remains out with an oblique strain at least until July. And those are just the two most prominent of the numerous Yankee pitching injuries.
Anderson, who was the first-round draft pick out of Oregon, 20th overall, of the Colorado Rockies in 2011 came to the Angels in 2022 as a free agent. He is now pitching the final year of that three-season, $39 million contract.
That means Anderson would not require a substantial commitment from the Yankees, and likely would not need to give up much in terms of a prospect haul to obtain him. So far in 2025, for the 26-31 Angels, Anderson has won two and lost two in 11 starts, with a solid 3.39 ERA. He averages roughly six innings per start.
“Although Anderson’s advanced metrics, such as xFIP (4.82), suggest he’s overdue for regression, he’s consistently outperformed those expectations,” Molnick wrote. “A pending free agent on a non-contending Angels team that remains a long shot for the postseason, Anderson could be available without emptying the Yankees’ farm.”
The Yankees bullpen has benefited from relatively light use, thanks to the durability of the starters. New York relievers have thrown 203 2/3 innings, 14th fewest in MLB. The addition of Anderson could help to improve on that usage rate, always an essential factor for success in they postseason, which is where the Yankees are certainly headed.
Jonathan Vankin JONATHAN VANKIN is an award-winning journalist and writer who now covers baseball and other sports for Heavy.com. He twice won New England Press Association awards for sports feature writing. Vankin is also the author of five nonfiction books on a variety of topics, as well as nine graphic novels including most recently “Last of the Gladiators” published by Dynamite Entertainment. More about Jonathan Vankin
