Breaking news: The Yankees made a serious promise to do “everything possible” to get the $56 million All-Star.
The New York Yankees are leading the American League East with a 15-10 record after 25 games of the season. The Yankees offense is still one of the best in the game, and outfielder Aaron Judge is vying for another American game MVP award, but the pitching is a different matter. With an ERA of 4.07, the Yankees are 17th in Major League Baseball. Their beginning pitching ERA of 4.69 ranks 26th in MLB, barely ahead of the Athletics, Miami Marlins, Colorado Rockies, and Baltimore Orioles.
The Yankees lost their ace in Gerrit Cole for the season, and will be without reigning AL Rookie of the Year Luis Gil for the foreseeable future. While Max Fried and Carlos Rodon have been terrific, the rest of the rotation has been dreadful. The Yankees will almost probably be in the market for starting pitching this deadline, and the best player projected to be transferred is Marlins ace Sandy Alcantara. Alcantara is just a few years away from his 2022 Cy Young season, in which he had a 2.28 ERA across 228.2 innings pitched, but he is off to a bad start in 2025 following Tommy John surgery, with a 6.56 ERA across five appearances.
Alcantara is seemingly a lock to be dealt before the deadline, and his advantageous contract with two more years of team control and a club option in the third year makes him a prized item.
Bob Nightengale, an MLB insider for USA Today, recently provided an update on the Alcantara sweepstakes on Dodgers Nation’s Dodgers Dougout Live on YouTube. “I believe they will move him, most likely in late July. The beauty about him is you got him for two more years after this at cheap money,” Nightengale stated to Dodgers Nation’s Doug McKain. Therefore, someone will have to sacrifice a great deal. Even if the Padres sacrificed a lot acquiring Juan Soto, a team may incur greater costs. The cost will be really high. Nightengale anticipates that the Yankees will be at the forefront of those negotiations, despite the high cost.
“I think you’ll have the Yankees doing everything possible,” Nightengale told McKain. “The Marlins will probably have about 10 teams calling on him willing to give up half their farm system.”
The Chicago Cubs would be another team interested likely in Alcantara, but Nightengale doesn’t believe they have the prospects to land him. He said the same about the Padres. The Yankees, however, have more than enough prospect capital to land Alcantara, which could be the exact piece they need to get back to the World Series this season in a wide open AL.
