Yankees swing surprise 4-for-1 trade for Marlins’ Ryan Weathers: Report
Perhaps emboldened by their miss on right-hander Edward Cabrera, the New York Yankees went right back to the Miami Marlins with a trade offer for a different starting pitcher.
Ryan Weathers was hardly a trade candidate that was high on most insiders’ radars this winter. The 26-year-old lefty still had three years of cheap team control remaining, and was coming off a season in which he only made eight starts due to both a flexor muscle strain and a lat strain.
However, the Marlins have made a habit of trading seemingly any veteran without notice, and on Tuesday, they reportedly decided New York’s offer for Weathers was one they couldn’t refuse.
Jack Curry of YES was the first to report that the Yankees had acquired Weathers for four minor-leaguers: outfielders Dillon Lewis and Brendan Jones, and infielders Dylan Jasso, and Juan Matheus, per Craig Mish of Sportsgrid.
It was a surprising haul for a pitcher with Weathers’ relatively short resume. However, the Yankees are banking on projection, combined with Weathers’ blue-chip track record as a former top 10-overall pick, to justify paying such a steep price tag.
Weathers, 26, has never pitched 100 innings in a major league season before, and he’s totaled just 281 in the span of the last five years. He owns a career 4.93 ERA, but that number dropped to 3.74 in his 24 starts over the last two years. He was the seventh overall pick in the 2018 draft, as the San Diego Padres took him out of high school in Tennessee.
Lewis, in particular, was a tough piece for the Yankees to give up, as the 22-year-old became something of a prospect sleeper over the summer. He reached High-A, clubbed 22 home runs, and stole 26 bases in 122 games last year. MLB Pipeline ranked him as the No. 16 prospect in the Yankees’ system, with Jones 15th and Jasso 23rd.
It’s a sizable swing from the Yankees, who felt they needed another rotation arm to weather the storm at the start of the year while Gerrit Cole and Carlos Rodón are rehabbing. But if it pays off, it could greatly boost their odds of getting back to the top of the American League East.
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