YANKEES GRAB A NEW CATCHER FOR MORE DEPTH

Source: Paul J. Bereswill NY Post

And just like that...the Yankees make another deal with the Texas Rangers. This time they pick up another catcher to add more depth to the position. Jose Trevino, a 29-year-old from the Rangers, heads to the Bronx in exchange for once-promising right-hander Albert Abreu and minor league lefty Robert Ahlstrom, a 2021 draft pick. I can't argue with more depth in a position where this team had none, but with Kyle Higashioka playing the way he is and Ben Rortvedt in tow, should we have invested in this kind of trade when we really need starting pitching?

"Trevino and Higashioka are both right-handed hitters, making for more of an imperfect platoon fit than the Higashioka/Rortvedt combo, yet the first priority still seems to be defense considering Trevino’s lack of offensive pop. Over his 516 career plate appearances with the Rangers, Trevino has batted only .245/.270/.364.  Framing-wise, Statcast considered Trevino to be among the best in baseball last season," reported MLB Trade Rumors. Rotvedt is out with an oblique strain and will likely start the season in Triple-A with a trajectory toward the MLB Club. As far as starting pitching, where are the Yankees in that camp?

According to SI.com, "There's still a possibility that New York could make some sort of trade in the next six days, addressing their pitching staff. Boone said he is focused on this organization's internal options, though." The Yankees standout pitching-wise this spring has Manny Bañuelos. Bañuelos was stellar against the Blue Jays on Wednesday night, throwing three scoreless innings. In addition, the confident 31-year-old is up to six scoreless innings this spring with seven strikeouts, giving up only two hits.

Aaron Boone said that pitcher Michael King with also be with the team as they head north in just about a week as spring training wraps up. He has been having a good spring as well. With Luis Severino still not 100% it will be interesting to see how the team handles the first week of the season. 

Source: NY Daily News

So the Yankees addressed the catching and shortstop positions this offseason with trades with the Texas Rangers. It is still are unclear how their starting rotation will play out. I mean everyone is sort of in the same boat. Even the team across town who has a stacked rotation has seen the likes of uncertainty as Jacob deGrom suffered a stress injury in his right shoulder, making him questionable this season. We will see new faces and hopefully exciting baseball this coming week. Let's hope the moves are enough to give the Yankees a chance to make some positive noise early this spring. 

--Suzie Pinstripe
BYB Senior Managing Editor
Twitter: @suzieprof