The New York Yankees boast the best record in baseball at 69-34, but recent late-game losses concerned fans and the brass in the Bronx. The Yankees were aggressive at the trade deadline and added starting pitcher Frankie Montas from the Oakland A’s, and also bolstered their bullpen with Scott Effross from the Chicago Cubs and Lou Trivino from the A’s.
All three new additions to the Yankees are right-handed pitchers.
To complete the trade for Montas and Trivino, the Yankees will send the A’s three pitchers and an infielder. The A’s get left-handed pitchers Ken Waldichuk and JP Sears, plus righty Luis Medina and second baseman Cooper Bowman.
The Yankees will send Hayden Wesneski — a minor league prospect and right-handed pitcher — to the Chicago Cubs to complete the Effross trade.
Last week, the Yankees acquired outfielder Andrew Benintendi from the Kansas City Royals.
The Yankees are one of the betting co-favorites with the LA Dodgers to win the 2022 World Series at +360 odds, according to DraftKings. In AL pennant betting, the Yankees are the top of the board at +160 odds to represent the American League in the World Series.
Montas: Thrilled to Get Run Support
The Yankees won a bidding war for Montas against the St. Louis Cardinals. After the Seattle Mariners snagged Luis Castillo in a trade from the Cincinnati Reds, Montas was the best available starting pitcher on the trading bloc.
The Yankees needed a hedge against Luis Severino experiencing any more health issues. At the same time, Domingo German looked awful in his two starts. German is 0-1 with an 8.22 ERA and 1.83 WHIP in only 7.2 innings since his return.
Montas is 4-9 with the A’s this season with a 1.14 WHIP and 3.18 ERA He whiffed 109 batters in 104.2 innings. In 19 starts, Montas has 10 quality starts but unfortunately he did not get enough run support from the A’s. The A’s scored zero runs in three of his starts, and scored a single run in seven of them. He had 11 total starts where he got two or fewer runs of support. In the month of May, Montas was 0-6 and the A’s scored a total of six runs for him.
Now that Montas joined the Bronx Bombers, he does not have to worry about losing any more frustrating 2-1 games with the stacked Yankees lineup led by Aaron Judge, who is on pace to slug 66 home runs.
Bullpen Help: Trivino and Effross
With the Yankees losing set-up man Michael King to a season-ending elbow injury, Trivino has a chance to pitch in high leverage situations for the Yankees. The Yankees are also not thrilled with Aroldis Chapman and his 5.01 ERA. The former closer lost his job after pitching awful this season, and Clay Holmes (1.77 ERA, 0.92 WHIP) took over as the closer.
Trivino saw action in 39 games with the A’s this season, but he’s 1-6 with 10 saves and two blown saves. He has a 6.47 ERA and 1.188 WHIP, yet struck out 45 batters in 32 total innings. Last season, Trivino appeared in 71 games with the A’s and recorded 22 saves and four blown saves. He went 7-8 overall with a 3.18 ERA and 1.25 WHIP.
Efross is a rookie, but had a strong showing in his first full season in the “show” with the Cubs. Effross is a side-arm pitcher who appeared in 47 games this season. He has a 1-4 record with one save, and a 3.66 ERA and 1.07 WHIP in 44 innings. He has a juicy 5.7 strikeout/walk ratio and credited with 16 holds.
The Yankees need as many fresh arms as they can get because manager Aaron Boone tends to overuse his bullpen, so both Trivino and Effross will be welcomed additions to the bullpen.