The Yankees made one of the first trades of this busy deadline week acquiring righty Clay Holmes from the Pittsburgh Pirates.
As of writing this, the MLB Trade Season is entering full swing. There has already been a flurry of moves ahead of the Non-Waiver Trade Deadline at 4 P.M. on Friday, but there’s still plenty of deals to be made, and most of the big fish are still on the trade block. For starters, the Padres bolstered their infield (and outfield) by acquiring Adam Frazier from the Pirates, the Mets added Rich Hill from the Rays, and the Athletics swiped lefty Andrew Chafin from the Cubs. But even the Yankees made a move on Monday, acquiring righty reliever Clay Holmes from the Pirates.
Holmes to the Big Apple
Holmes is a righty reliever who was drafted in the ninth round of the MLB Draft by the Pirates. He’s 28 years old has been in the majors since 2018, although he did miss most of 2020 with injury issues. On the surface, Holmes doesn’t look too impressive. In 44 games and 42.0 innings this season (both career-highs), Holmes has an ERA of 4.93 with 44 strikeouts.
As I said, I acknowledge those numbers don’t necessarily sound promising, but looking deeper, the Yankees’ newest reliever may have some potential. His xERA (Expected ERA) is just 3.57, while his xFIP is 3.81. Meanwhile, his SIERA is a solid 3.77. He also has a GB% (Ground Ball Percentage) of 72.8%, which is insanely high, and proves that he can keep that ball in the yard.
One last positive on Holmes is his team control. The Yankees, if they please, have Holmes for another three seasons after this one. Albeit, I understand that doesn’t mean much if Holmes turns out to not be good, but if he is, this is a massive perk for the Bombers.
Yankees Trade Away Prospects
On the return, the Yankees surrendered prospects Hoy Park and Diego Castillo, Castillo, who’s still young, likely won’t see the majors for a while. As for Park, the utility player was swinging a good lefty bat in Triple-A, but it was clear that the Yanks were reluctant to give him an official shot in the majors.
All things considered, I don’t hate this move, nor do I love it. I do wish the Yankees gave Park more of a shot, but considering this was his first really good season in the minors in the organization, I understand the skepticism. Nonetheless, the Yankees have far more work to do than adding one reliever. Although people think the Yankees are dead, and rightfully so, I still reserve a little bit of faith in the team. It’ll be interesting to keep an eye on them as they target bigger fish. like Joey Gallo, Max Kepler, or even Trevor Story.