10 Thoughts Post Deadline

by EJ Fagan

August 1, 2025

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NOTE: The following comes from EJ Fagan's substack page and is shared with permission.

Please check out EJ's substack page for more great articles.

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The trade deadline has come and gone. A lot happened. Let’s talk about it.

1) The Yankees remade their roster to address the team’s major weaknesses

It’s easy to simplify a team’s goals at the deadline down to, “get better players.” In previous years, it felt like Brian Cashman was doing exactly that: Jazz Chisholm is good, so let’s get him. Does he address the team’s weaknesses? Not really, but they’ll be better with him.

This year, the Yankees addressed their three big problems: they were terrible at third base, they were exploitable by even mediocre left-handed pitching and they had a thin, soft-throwing bullpen. Now they have a solid-to-good third baseman, three new right-handed bench players and a truly deep bullpen. The core of the team is still the same, but now it won’t be held down by problems on the periphery.

2) Anthony Volpe and Austin Wells are going to have to fight for their jobs

Jose Cabarello has been worth 1.5 bWAR and 1.0 fWAR in just 85 games this season. Volpe has been worth 1.6 bWAR and 1.1 fWAR. He’s undoubtedly the better hitter, but Cabarello brings a ton more value on the field and the bases. If Volpe keeps making errors*, he might lose playing time. At the very least, I hope that Boone rests Volpe two or three days per week down the stretch.

* The throws weren’t great, but his first basemen haven’t helped lately.

Austin Wells actually has a lower OPS than Volpe on the season. He’s been a better defender than Volpe, but the offensive slump has been a real problem all year. Ben Rice has been a perfectly average defender behind the plate with a much better bat. Maybe Wells will benefit from extra rest, but he’s now got real competition for the starting catcher spot in the playoffs.

3) A roster crunch is coming for the bullpen

The Yankees now have six locks for the bullpen: Weaver, Bednar, Williams, Doval, Hill and Bird. When they get healthy, you can add Cruz and Leiter Jr. to the list to make an eight man pen.

That leaves no room for Loaisiga, Hamilton, De Los Santos Brubaker, Yarbrough, or Headrick. None of them will be missed. I wonder if the Yankees DFA Loaisiga, who both has no options and a $5 million salary next year. Maybe some team will take his money off their hands.

4) Cam Schlittler is headed to Triple-A

I like Schlittler a lot. In a just world, he would remain with the team and Marcus Stroman would be cut. But now that the deadline has passed, the Yankees won’t be able to find more depth should someone get hurt. They even traded away Carlos Carassco. Schlittler might be back on September 1st, but for now I think that they will keep everyone stretched out and pitching full time.

5) The Yankees can now probably afford a bullpen game in the playoffs

Max Fried and Carlos Rodon are your clear Game 1/2 starters. Luis Gil will hopefully pitch like his 2024 self and join them. But after that? I think that the Yankees are probably better off with a bullpen game, or just let Will Warren pitch three innings or something. They are deep enough to pull it off.

6) The Yankees cleaned out their mid-level hitting prospects, but retained the ones who matter.

Spencer Jones and George Lombard Jr. are still here, but every other hitter not taken in the 2025 draft is gone. It hurts to lose Rafael Flores, Jesus Rodriguez and especially Roc Riggio, but they were all blocked on the MLB roster for the foreseeable future.

I expected the Yankees to trade from their really impressive starting pitcher depth. Instead, they retained all of Elmer Rodriguez-Cruz, Ben Hess, Cam Schlittler, Will Warren, Carlos LaGrange, Kyle Carr and Bryce Cunningham. If healthy, they will all start the 2026 season at Double-A or higher (and Gil). For a team with three very well paid starters locked up for a long time, that’s a lot of depth.

7) Someone has to go down when Aaron Judge returns

Against a righty starter, the Yankees bench consists of: Austin Slater, Amed Rosario, Jose Cabarello and one of Goldschmidt, Rice or Wells. But Aaron Judge is set to return to the roster in just a week. Unless the Yankees want to return to a five man bench, someone has to go down.

I think Dominguez might have to go down. They can’t send down a catcher. Slater and Rosario don’t have options. Cabarello and Volpe are the only other options and I have a hard time seeing either going.

8) That Mason Miller trade was wild

It would have been fun to get Miller, but damn the Padres overpaid. The #3 prospect in baseball and a bunch of other very real prospects for a relief pitcher? No way. Miller will allow, what, two more runs on average over the remainder of the season than Bednar? The A’s committed highway robbery here.

9) The Yankees are better than the Blue Jays

I thought that the Yankees were a better team before today, and now the Yankees are a much better team. Shane Bieber might be nice, but he’s coming off Tommy John. The Jays are still a thin team playing over their heads. However, a three game lead (and holding the tiebreaker) isn’t nothing.

10) This is the best Yankee roster since 2009

For the first time since Joe Girardi’s early years, the Yankees have a complete roster. No glaring holes. No major weaknesses. It might be nice to have another starter or something, but the Yankees aren’t going to go into the playoffs without a shortstop or with a bunch of sub-replacement level players. That will be true even if they have some injuries thanks to depth. They have great top-end pitching with Fried and Rodon, an incredible bullpen and the best lineup in baseball. Let’s go win a World Series.