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Yankees manager Aaron Boone could use a starting pitching upgrade.
Considering the number of injuries they have had to endure this season, including the loss of their No. 1 starter for the entire season due to Tommy John surgery, the New York Yankees starting rotation has been surprisingly good.
With a collective ERA of 3.49, Yankees starters have been fourth-best in the big leagues. Their consistency is due mainly to lefties Max Fried and Carlos Rodon who have made a league-leading 16 starts each, with respective ERAs of 2.05 and 3.10.
But the Yankees rotation suffered yet another injury on Sunday when No. 5 starter Ryan Yarbrough went on the injured list with a right oblique muscle strain.
That led to the call-up of Allan Winans, a career minor leaguer who on Monday became the eighth starter used by New York in 2025 through 78 games.
Yankees Must Upgrade Starting Staff at Trade Deadline
Yankees general manager Brian Cashman will undoubtedly look to upgrade the starting staff at, or possibly before the July 31 trade deadline, with an eye to bringing more stability to the injury-battered rotation. But who will Cashman be seeking to acquire, and which players is he willing to give up in return?
Pinstripes Nation columnist Sara Molnick published a trade idea on Monday that would upgrade the Yankees rotation with a 27-year-old right-hander who has put together a solid if not spectacular 4.23 ERA over 73 career starts, and who would continue providing value to the Yankees for at least three more seasons after this one.
Not only that, but the Miami Marlins’ Edward Cabrera will likely be available. The Marlins are perpetual sellers, it seems, and this year will probably be no different with the Fish languishing in the National League East basement at at 31-45, 11 games out of a playoff spot and 15 games behind the division-pacing Philadelphia Phillies.
In fact, The Athletic ranks Cabrera 12th on their MLB Trade Deadline Big Board — a ranking of the the players the publication considers the top 30 trade candidates.
“The Marlins don’t have to move Edward Cabrera. He’s under team control through 2028, and his front office would have to hope that the team would’ve made some progress toward competitiveness by then. He’s also made some recent improvements: he dropped his arm slot, added a sinker, moved to the curve over the slider, and is in the midst of his best stretch of command ever. And if he threw this way for an entire season he might just improve the return,” wrote The Athletic.
“Other teams have to be enticed by the recent form, though, and he has the best stuff of any starting pitcher thought to be on the market,” the publication’s Big Board report concluded.
According to Molnick, however, “the Marlins will demand premium prospects for Cabrera’s services.” Cashman’s previous efforts to shield organization No. 1 prospect George Lombard and previous No. 1, now a Major Leaguer, Jasson Dominguez from trade negotiations might not hold up this time.
“Team control through 2028 makes Cabrera extremely valuable beyond this season. He could anchor the Yankees rotation alongside Gil, Fried, and Rodón for years,” Molnick wrote. “Cabrera’s combination of talent, durability, and control makes him worth a significant investment. Few available pitchers offer similar upside and longevity.”
In addition to his three years of team control, Cabrera is on a modest one-year contract worth just under $2 million for this season.
Would the Yankees be willing to mortgage their future for an increased chance to return to the World Series for a second straight year — something much less likely to happen with an injury-filled rotation that still must get through 84 more games before even taking on the postseason?
History says the answer is yes.
The Yankees have an unprecedented historical propensity for spending money big on free agents — dating back to late owner George Steinbrenner’s 1975 signing of pitcher Jim “Catfish” Hunter for what was then an astonishingly rich, five-year, $3.25 million contract.
Hunter was the first big money free agent in baseball history, and the Yankees got him, setting a trend that continues today and makes it much less crucial for the organization to maintaina constant stream of prime prospects.
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. He was a sports editor and writer at The Daily Yomiuri in Tokyo, Japan, covering Japan Pro Baseball, boxing, sumo and other sports. More about Jonathan Vankin
