The Yankees are poised to acquire infielder Amed Rosario from the Nationals, per a report from Jack Curry of YES Network. New York will send right-hander Clayton Beeter and outfielder Browm Martinez to the Nationals in exchange for Rosario’s services.
A former top prospect who spent the first four seasons of his career with the Mets, Rosario returns home to New York but will now suit up for the Bronx down the stretch. The 29-year-old signed has now been moved at the trade deadline in three consecutive seasons and figures to offer the same value to the Yankees that he offered to the Dodgers and Reds in recent years: a versatile, right-handed bat capable of crushing left-handed pitching. Rosario’s overall slash line of .270/.310/.426 (105 wRC+) this year is solid but not especially exceptional, but a look under the hood reveals an excellent 126 wRC+ in 93 trips to the plate against southpaws this season. That’s par for the course for Rosario, who has posted a 120 wRC+ against lefties for his career across nine seasons in the big leagues.
A Yankees team that ranks as the best offense in baseball against left-handed pitching (120 wRC+) this year may not seem like an obvious candidate for a lefty masher like Rosario, but a great deal of that production comes from Aaron Judge and his absurd 219 wRC+ against left-handed pitching. Even setting aside the fact that Judge is headed for the injured list due to a flexor strain in his elbow, lefty hitters in the lineup like Trent Grisham (78 wRC+), Ben Rice (89 wRC+), and Jazz Chisholm Jr. (76 wRC+) all have below-average numbers against same-handed pitching this year. Rosario has handled every position on the diamond except for first base and catcher during his career, so he should be able to spell a number of those players against lefties as needed.
His most likely platoon partner appears to be fellow deadline acquisition Ryan McMahon, however. McMahon appears ticketed for a regular role as the club’s third baseman, but has an anemic 58 wRC+ against left-handed pitching. Plugging Rosario (who has spent parts of nine seasons at shortstop in addition to 30 career starts at the hot corner) into the lineup at third in McMahon’s place against lefties would afford the Yankees an extremely effective platoon at the position, turning a longtime soft spot in the club’s lineup into a clear strength. The moves to add McMahon and Rosario seem likely to take the Yankees out of the market for further infield help. They had been tied previously to prominent names on the trade market like Eugenio Suarez and Willi Castro, but now seem much more likely to focus their deadline efforts on improving a pitching staff beleaguered by injuries over the final days leading up to the deadline.
More to come.
