The New York Yankees bullpen was actually one of the strongest parts of their team in 2019, but it seems they could be looking to add some more pieces.
According to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, the New York Yankees are one of the teams who are showing interest in Oakland Athletics relief pitcher Blake Treinen despite his disappointing 2019 campaign.
It is evident that the Athletics are looking to deal the right-handed reliever because he is a non-tender candidate who is expected to earn around $10 million in arbitration, which is a number Oakland won’t be willing to pay for a reliever coming off a bad year where he posted a 4.91 ERA and lost his closer’s job.
This is where the New York Yankees enter the situation. Everyone should know by now that the Yankees can never have enough arms in the bullpen and they definitely view Treinen as a pitcher with a huge amount of upside that they can capitalize on. Just one season ago in 2018, the right-hander posted a 0.78 ERA and struck out 100 batters in 80 innings and put his nasty sinker on display.
Clearly improving the bullpen is not what everyone had in mind for the Yankees offseason plans, but if they can have a promising reliever land in their laps no one should complain. However, this would definitely not stop them from going after another starting pitcher as well to improve the depth of their rotation.
We will see where this rumor goes to see if the Yankees actually turn their interest into action and figure out a deal to pull-off with the Athletics to bring Blake Treinen to the Bronx.