Yankees Trade Rumors: New York Won't Acquire A Pitcher, Justus Sheffield Coming To MLB Soon

Don’t expect the New York Yankees to trade for a pitcher before the end of the month. While it’s still possible to make deals after MLB's July 31 non-waiver trade deadline, the team is set with what it currently has in the rotation.

“In terms of assisting it going forward, that’s only gonna come from within,” Yankees general manager Brian Cashman told WFAN’s Mike Francesa Wednesday afternoon. “With the trade deadline stuff, especially with our record, everything gets claimed well before us, so they’ll be no imports on the starting side going forward. What we have is something I think we—in combination with our bullpen—are very comfortable with and feel like we can compete on a day in and day out basis. So we’re gonna go with what we’ve got and hopefully, it’s gonna be good enough.”

New York’s rotation has been considered the weakest part of the team all year, and there are questions surrounding what were previously their most reliable starters. Luis Severino has gone from a Cy Young candidate to posting a 7.50 ERA in his last seven starts. C.C. Sabathia is on the disabled list, and Sonny Gray lost his spot in the rotation because of how poorly he pitched.

The Yankees are likely headed for the AL Wild-Card Game, and the team has no clear starter for the single-game elimination playoff round. Severino would’ve been the easy choice two months ago, but he hasn’t been able to get anyone out since then. Sabathia is banged up and usually doesn’t pitch deep into games. Masahiro Tanaka is hit or miss, pitching great one day and poorly the next.

The inconsistencies and injuries that have plagued New York’s rotation have made the organization’s pre-deadline trades all the more important. The Yankees acquired both J.A. Happ and Lance Lynn, both of whom have exceeded expectations.

“I’m thankful that we did what we did with Happ and Lynn,” Cashman told Francesa. “Those guys have been tremendous for us. Lynn was an insurance policy to give us length out of the pen, more so than we were gonna get from (Adam) Warren. Bringing Lynn in, we cashed in on that insurance policy much sooner and thankfully he—makeup-wise and performance-wise—has fit right in. I’m comfortable with our starting rotation.”

Happ has gone 3-0 in three quality starts for New York, taking the spot that was split between the now-injured Jordan Montgomery and Domingo German, among others. Lynn has replaced Gray in the rotation, allowing just one run in two starts.

Luis Cessa took the mound Wednesday in place of Sabathia, allowing five runs in 3.1 innings. He was sent down to Triple-A as his ERA reached 5.60 in nine appearances, proving once again that he’s not a reliable major-league pitcher.

Cessa got several opportunities that many Yankees’ fans believe should've gone to Justus Sheffield, who has dominated the minor leagues in 2018. Even after a disastrous start Wednesday, New York’s top pitching prospect has a 2.57 ERA with just two home runs allowed in 80.2 Triple-A innings.

Opposing teams inquired about Sheffield before the trade deadline, though the Yankees refused to move him. New York not only sees him as part of their future beyond this season, but the team expects him to contribute in 2018.

“We’ve gone a different direction, some of which is because the people we’ve decided to take we thought were in a better position currently to compete as Sheff finishes off on some of the things we’ve wanted him to work on. But the stuff’s electric. The ceiling and the upside is exciting, and just because it hasn’t happened yet doesn’t diminish what we think of him. It’s just timing is everything. When do we unwrap that and deploy that? Is it gonna be before September? It just depends on how things shake out and compared to some of the competition for the service that’s needed at the time it’s needed,” Cashman said.

“You’ll see him here pitching for New York, whether it’s as a rotation guy or out of the bullpen, at some point, I would expect, in 2018.”

The Yankees are 10 games behind the Boston Red Sox in the AL East with 42 games left on the regular-season schedule. New York is 3.5 games ahead of the Oakland Athletics for the first wild-card berth.