Trade Deadline Rumor Roundup
- E.J. Fagan
- 11 hours ago
- 5 min read
By EJ Fagan
August 1, 2026
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The following post comes from EJ Fagan's Substack, Baseball Is Life. It is shared with permission.
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NOTE - With trades possible at any minute, We combined two of EJ's most recent articles in this one post. See EJ's page for even more details and stats on these rumors.
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After a month of generalities, We have some actual reporting about the Yankees specific trade deadline plans. Let’s look at each briefly.
Yankees Interested in Ivan Herrera
Ryan Jeffers might be off the board, as the Twins claim to be buyers this deadline. Maybe Byron Buxton’s injury changes things, but the Yankees are now going to their alternative options.
We’ve heard speculation about Tyler Stephenson, but it’s not clear to me that he’s much of an upgrade (still he will me mentioned below). We heard that they checked in on Adley Ruschman, but that seems like a pipe dream.
But now we have a juicier rumor: the Yankees are interested in Cardinals catcher Ivan Herrera. He’s having a solid season.
He has big but not unwieldy platoon splits: .800 OPS against lefties, .700 against righties. The catch is that his defense has been pretty awful. The Cardinals have been using him as a backup catcher for the last few years. I have to imagine that he would be a pure platoon catcher for the Yankees. Maybe they think that they can coach him a little better, but that seems ambitious for midseason.
The rumor feels unlikely to me.
The Padres Are Scouting (And Love) Dax Kilby
Joel Sherman reports that the Yankees are “high on” and “love” Dax Kilby, although they also want MLB-ready starting pitching in any trades.
That’s an interesting rumor. Dax Kilby surprised everyone with elite bat-to-ball skills when he made his brief post-draft major league debut. A bunch of experts quickly declared him the biggest riser of the 2025 draft and a top-50ish prospect in all of baseball. He missed most of the 2026 season with successive hamstring issues, but he’s playing well now.
Other than Lombard Jr, Kilby might be the best Yankee trade chip at the moment. But he’s so far from the majors that teams probably discount him over someone like George Lombard Jr. Still, Padres GM AJ Preller is a bit of a trade gunslinger. I could see him taking a risk on Kilby.
Mason Miller is the only Padres player that I’d consider giving up Kilby for. Maybe they could get him without losing Lombard.
The Marlins Are Open For Business
The Marlins are interested in selling a ton of players. The Yankees aren’t specifically mentioned here, but the players should all be interested to them: Otto Lopez, Xavier Edwards, Heriberto Hernandez and Liam Hicks.
I’m just going to dismiss Lopez as a possibility. He’s too good and too controlled. But Heriberto Hernandez sure sounds interesting.
The defensive metrics are split on Hernandez; OAA thinks he’s a decent left fielder, but DRS thinks he’s pretty awful. But he can hit, especially versus lefties (.946 OPS this season). He’s under team control forever. Unlikely, but the Marlins might not need him in the outfield.
Xavier Edwards is basically a younger, faster version of Luis Arraez with a few years of control. He has the same Jazz Chisholm issue that Arraez has, but at least you guarantee a second baseman for a bit longer.
Liam Hicks makes little sense to me. He’s an okay left-handed hitting catcher with poor defense. The low strikeout (and dead pull lefty swing) is fun, but I think that there’s a reason why he’s barely playing catcher for Florida. The Yankees aren’t going to ditch Austin Wells for him, and they are both lefty hitters.
Taylor Ward has had an interesting season at the plate. He traded his old low-OBP, high power approach for a high walk, high OBP approach:
Ward solves a lot of problems for the Yankees. He holds down an outfield spot while Judge and Bellinger heal. If the OBP transformation is real, he makes a strong leadoff hitter. He doesn’t exactly have a much-needed contact bat, but has a knack for squaring the ball up and working the count.
I’d kill for a 2.5 WAR outfielder right now. The Yankees can sort out the crowded outfield problem if and when everyone is on the field. Ward makes so much sense. Hopefully he’s just not great enough to reduce the price.
First choice Ryan Jeffers is probably not being traded, so the Yankees are moving on to Plan B.
Stephenson is a solidly above average hitter without any huge offensive weak spots. He has reverse platoon splits in 2026 but was a moderately strong lefty masher previously.
The downside is defense. Stephenson is one of the worst defensive primary catchers in the league. The blocks above average red ink looks great in 2026, but was also awful in previous years. Maybe the Yankees can work with him to improve, but I wouldn’t count on it in the short term.
Still, he’s better than Austin Wells. He’s a free agent after this season. I’ll take him over nothing or a pure defensive catcher like Luis Torrens. The Yankees can sub in Wells when defense matters.
Lane Thomas is fast, yet he’s a consistently awful centerfielder. Maybe his strong arm will play in a corner.
Regardless, Lane Thomas is a great platoon bat, with a career .849 OPS after left-handed pitching. And his .669 OPS against righties doesn’t seem to bad on the Yankees right now either.
He’s a step down from Ward as a starter, but Thomas might be a more valuable bench bat when Judge and Bellinger return. I’ll take him.
After years of stubborn refusal, the Angels are ready to sell everything that isn’t nailed down. What should the Yankees be interested in?
First and foremost, Zach Neto. My hot take is that Neto is seriously overrated. He’s an awful defensive shortstop. He strikes out a ton. His expected numbers were less mediocre in past years, but not great this year. I’m not crazy about giving up a significant piece for the Angels shortstop.
Throw Jo Adell on the pile of outfielders who aren’t great but would be fine platoon stopgaps on the offensively challenged Yankees.
Jorge Soler is cooked. The Yankees don’t need any of the Angels starters. The Angels really have one other hitter of note - Mike Trout!
A man can dream, right?
