Carlos Lagrange injury just threw Yankees' trade deadline plans into flux

The New York Yankees bullpen had quietly seemed to get its act together recently. Sort of. Camilo Doval is a massive problem, for sure, but David Bednar has turned around his early-season struggles, Brent Headrick has been rock solid all year, Fernando Cruz has gotten the job done, and Paul Blackburn has been surprisingly good. Down on the farm, the Yankees had a solution brewing in Carlos Lagrange flipping to the bullpen.

Of course, because these are the Yankees in the middle of the summer, nothing can go right. Lagrange, whom New York was banking on becoming the second coming of Dellin Betances to save the day, was placed on the IL with a shoulder injury.

We were expecting the six-foot-seven monster's arrival any day now, but with the news that the exact injury is a right shoulder capsule strain, it's a guarantee that we won't be seeing Lagrange in the Bronx any time soon. He won't begin throwing for at least six weeks. That means the absolute best case would be him returning in two months, just in time for a September call-up.

By that point, the leaky bullpen may have cost the Yankees a playoff spot. So, it's time to go back to the drawing board.

Carlos Lagrange's injury forces the Yankees to navigate a weak reliever trade market

New York might have another internal solution, or at least, a vocal portion of the fanbase believes one exists in the form of flamethrowing right-hander Yovanny Cruz. Cruz got called up for the second time and pitched two perfect innings with three strikeouts on June 30 against the Detroit Tigers. He was promptly banished back to Scranton.

The Yankees clearly don't believe that Cruz can consistently throw strikes. That ignores the fact that his 10.5% walk rate at Scranton (admittedly a little high) is one of the best marks of his career by far, and that, in albeit a sample of just 4 1/3 major league innings, he's yet to walk a batter and has a 40% strikeout rate.

Whatever, they don't trust him, and they wasted a couple of valuable weeks that could have been used to give him some run before the trade deadline to see if he could prove them wrong. Cross his name off the list. Cruz can't be an answer if they don't let him be.

So, back to the trade market Cashman goes. Last year's haul to fix that model year's broken bullpen netted us Jake Bird along with Doval and Bednar. Excuse us if we're not brimming with confidence.

Making things worse is the fact that there aren't many impact relievers expected to be on the market. First, there's a glut of teams on the contender bubble, especially in the American League, meaning there will be few true sellers unless there's a miraculous thinning of the herd over the next couple of weeks.

Second, the guaranteed sellers don't have a lot to offer. Ostensibly, the best reliever expected to be moved is Aroldis Chapman, but an apology won't be forthcoming. Even if that wasn't a hurdle, as President George W. Bush once said, "Fool me once, shame on you; Fool me -- won't get fooled again!"

So who is the next top guy? It might be Antonio Senzatela of the Colorado Rockies. They've had so much luck with Rockies relievers, might as well go back to the well, right? Right? Senzatela adds the pleasant wrinkle of being a failed starter who posted a 6.65 ERA last season.

Other non-options are Garrett Whitlock (the Red Sox won't trade him back here), Rico Garcia (the Orioles might help us out if they can extort us), and a handful of Miami Marlins relievers that include Pete Fairbanks, who can't pitch in cold weather and has a 6.84 ERA through July 4. Besides that, Miami's hot June has them in the thick of the playoff chase, so there's no guarantee they sell.

It's going to be slim pickings for Brian Cashman in his quest to fix the Yankees' bullpen. It's a shame after giving the unit a midseason makeover last year that largely failed, he didn't have the foresight to bank on more than the right arm of a 23-year-old, oft-injured fireballer with no MLB experience, but here we are.

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