3 former Yankees players NY should consider acquiring at trade deadline

2. Joe Mantiply, Arizona Diamondbacks

Come on, Yankee fan favorite Joe Mantiply! You remember, right? Slightly below Breyvic Valera in the pecking order, slightly ahead of Juan Miranda? Ringing a bell, no? No? OK, no.

Well, Mantiply was a Yankee once upon a time, serving as back-end roster fodder in both 2016 (claimed off waivers, released, signed a new minor-league deal in December, left after 2017) and 2019, when he actually made his big-league Bombers debut (three innings, three earned runs).

After that auspicious start, it was onto Arizona, where Mantiply struggled in 2020, found his footing in 2021, and has been silently buzzsawing the competition in 2022.

Call the Yankees “untraditional” if you’d like, but they love to incur lefty-lefty matchups when it comes time for October, and prior to the three-batter minimum, they’d even bend over backwards to stack lefties in the bullpen (Tyler Lyons in 2019?!). If Lucas Luetge survives a year’s worth of roster purges, he’ll make the playoff roster, as will secret weapon Wandy Peralta, who feasts on batters from both sides of the plate, thanks to his devastating change.

Maybe Mantiply would fit as a late-inning upgrade over Manny Banuelos, though? This season, he’s allowed a single earned run in 26.2 innings, good for an 0.34 ERA, alongside 26 whiffs and an 0.825 WHIP. Left-handed Clay Holmes, come on down!

Limiting hard contact? Yeah, the crafty lefty can do that, too; Mantiply is in the 92nd percentile for average exit velocity against, and 62nd percentile for hard-hit percentage overall. His xWOBA? Hard 99th, thanks for asking. BB%? Literally the 100th percentile. Again, appreciate the question.

If you haven’t been paying attention to the Diamondbacks or you don’t recall Mantiply’s two turns of duty in New York, that’s understandable. But in the former Yankee head-to-head battle with Richard Bleier of the Marlins, Mantiply comes out way on top.

1. Michael Pineda

You thought Michael Pineda was injured, didn’t you?! Well … he is, but he’s on the mend, making successful rehab starts in the past few days.

You thought the Yankees’ rotation was perfect, didn’t you?! You’re half-right! It’s been pretty spectacular! But in order to keep it spectacular down the stretch and into the postseason, a few of these guys need to be vacuum-sealed; specifically, Nestor Cortes and Luis Severino (and don’t forget about Jameson Taillon’s past injury woes, either!).

After Luis Gil’s Tommy John surgery, the Yankees’ first line of defense for starting pitching depth looks like: Clarke Schmidt, JP Sears, Domingo German, prospects Ken Waldichuk and Hayden Wesneski, and … Deivi Garcia? Banuelos? It’d be nice to add a veteran presence to the mix. Why not trade for Pineda from the reeling Tigers rather than overpay for Jose Quintana of the Pirates (another former Yankee, bonus)?

The 33-year-old Pineda doesn’t throw quite as hard as he used to and doesn’t miss bats terribly often, but in five starts earlier this season, he posted a 1.07 WHIP and 3.22 ERA for a ballclub that was treading water before sinking entirely in his absence. Was he getting hit hard? Absolutely; he’s bottom of the barrel in nearly all percentiles (in limited duty).

Look … it’s not very appealing. But if the choice is surrendering a lottery ticket so Pineda can absorb 4-5 starts down the stretch for a team playing above-.700 ball, or giving away 2-3 valuable prospects so Quintana can regress, this is probably the play. Of course, they could just keep handing the ball to Sears and German instead.

4 trade targets Yankees must avoid at 2022 deadline

The New York Yankees must avoid these four popular trade targets at the 2022 MLB Trade Deadline. Bad decisions if you overpay for these guys.