Yankee Injuries & A Few Dylan Cease Mock Trades
Gerrit Cole, starting pitcher for the New York Yankees (Jerome Miron/Imagn Images)
We all saw the 5th inning defense by the Yankees in the World Series, as well as a few of their bullpen lapses this past October. However, we also saw two MVP candidates, a breakout from Austin Wells and Luke Weaver, as well a ROY campaign from Luis Gil. Admittedly, the Yankees have upgraded the bullpen in a major way, by acquiring Devin Williams from the Brewers for Nestor Cortes and Caleb Durbin. The Yankees didn’t do much to level up their defense, but they did add a frontline starter in Max Fried. Max has a 2.80 ERA over the last three seasons, the best in the MLB. Obviously, Juan Soto is a major loss for this Yankee lineup, which had an American League leading 117 wRC+ in 2024. The combination of trading for Cody Bellinger and signing Fried may equalize the loss of a superstar like Soto, but it certainly doesn’t account for losing Gerrit Cole as your ace, or Gil’s high-grade late injury that will sideline him for three months. In the National League, the Yankees might not really be a contender. In a weaker AL, however, the Yankees can catapult themselves to dangerous status again with a major trade. Enter Dylan Cease, who is set to leave the Padres via free agency after the 2026 season.
Mock Trade #1: Dylan Cease for Jasson Domínguez
Cease is set to make $13.75M in his final season of arbitration, and clearly that salary would provide some relief for the cash strapped Padres. The main benefit to this deal for San Diego, of course, is Jasson himself. Domínguez got Tommy John surgery late in 2023, but has a strong arm from left or right field. His defense leaves a lot to be desired despite his 60 grade speed, but the bat more than makes up for it. He hit .314 with an .880 OPS across three levels last year, and he’s only 22 years old. He is the best prospect in the Yankees system, but Cashman wouldn’t pass up an opportunity to acquire a top 15 pitcher in the league as a rental given the recent injuries on the staff. Cease has finished top 4 in MVP voting in two of the last three years, and carries an exceptional 10.79 K/9 rate.
Jasson Domínguez Baseball America Scouting Grades
Mock Trade #2: Dylan Cease and Luis Arráez for Clarke Schmidt, Spencer Jones, and Everson Pereira
Luis is a 3X consecutive batting champ, and is a valuable enough player despite being somewhat one dimensional. The Yankees need a DH badly with Giancarlo’s elbow problems, and they could also use a guy who’s hit .328 over the last three seasons. The Padres overestimated his value in the trade market, and I think they were planning on dealing him after tendering him for $14M in his final year of arbitration. The Padres acquire Clarke Schmidt, who broke out in 2024 by throwing his cutter more and adding three inches of drop to both his curveball and sweeper, per Eno Sarris. Since Clarke is under team control for three years and a proven MLB contributor, he is the centerpiece of this deal for AJ Preller and his front office. Schmidt has a 4.10 ERA over 53 career starts, which makes him a league average starter if he regresses from his breakout campaign.
Luis Arráez Season Stats (bRef)
Spencer Jones was the Yankees #1 prospect at one point, but he has way too much swing and miss in his profile. K rates tend to get worse as prospects face better pitching, so 200K’s in less than 500 AA at bats is a red flag. Spencer is toolsy, with serious raw power and above average speed. He’s a fine outfielder, and should be a middle-of-the-order bat if he can figure out how to K less than 30% of the time at the MLB level. Everson Pereira also strikes out way too much, without the ceiling of Jones. Everson can play center field, which gives him a nice path to an MLB job as a fourth outfielder. There’s pop in the bat, but he has to show he can make enough contact to stick around.