ESPN
ESPNTHE CITY OF NEW YORK — The Yankees made two small moves at the trade deadline. On Tuesday, they got reliever Keynan Middleton from the Chicago White Sox in exchange for right-handed minor leaguer Juan Carela. They also bought the contract of pitcher Spencer Howard from the Texas Rangers.
New York went into the trade deadline looking for help in left field and thinking about trading potential free agents like outfielder Harrison Bader, utilityman Isiah Kiner-Falefa, and pitchers Luis Severino and Wandy Peralta.
“To be honest, there wasn’t a big thing we could add that would solve our immediate problems,” said general manager Brian Cashman.
Since July 4, New York has gone 7-14 and is now 312 games behind Toronto for the AL’s last wild-card spot. The Yankees have a batting average of.229. Only the Oakland A’s are worse in the major leagues.
Cashman said, “We know we can play better baseball, but we haven’t shown or proven that yet.” “But we still have two months to prove that.”
Since All-Star hitter Aaron Judge returned from a toe injury on June 3 at Dodger Stadium, New York is 1-4. Since Judge got hurt, the Yankees are 20-27.
After Tuesday night’s loss to Tampa Bay, 5-2, manager Aaron Boone said, “It’s on us.” “If we want to get where we want to go, it’s up to the people in that room to figure it out. I know how bad it looks. I know what you mean. But now we have to find it inside ourselves.”
New York hopes to get starter Nestor Cortes back from a strained rotator cuff on his left shoulder and reliever Jonathan Loaisiga from surgery on his right elbow. Since May 30, Cortes hasn’t pitched, and Loaisiga only made three appearances before getting hurt.
Middleton, a 29-year-old right-hander, has made 39 relief appearances this season and is 2-2 with two saves and a 3.96 ERA. He has struck out 47 batters, walked 16, and given up seven home runs in 36 1/3 innings.
Middleton can become a free agent after the World Series. In one start and 192 relief appearances for the Los Angeles Angels, Seattle, Arizona, and Chicago, he has a record of 10-8 with 15 saves and an ERA of 4.00.
“We signed him as a free agent in the minor leagues for six years. He ended up in Chicago. They helped him out. He pitched well for them, so when they started breaking up, we kept in touch with them, “He said Cashman. “So he was one of the names we talked about with them, and once we knew the price range, we felt good about taking it down.”
Howard, a right-handed pitcher who turned 27 last week, has a 10.80 ERA in three relief appearances for Texas this year. In two starts and nine relief appearances for Triple-A Round Rock, he is 1-1 with a 5.40 ERA. In parts of four seasons, he has gone 3-11 and had an ERA of 7.20.
He was sent to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre by the Yankees.
New York also put catcher Jose Trevino on the 60-day list of hurt people. Trevino played through a wrist injury until last week when he had surgery to fix it.
Carela is 21 years old and has made 16 starts and one relief appearance for Class A Hudson Valley this year.
Texas also got catcher Austin Hedges from Pittsburgh in exchange for money from the international bonus pool. Left-handed pitcher Cody Bradford and right-handed pitcher Yerry Rodrguez were sent to Round Rock.