Diamondbacks’ latest call-up could gift Yankees prime trade target at deadline

The New York Yankees' need for infield help has only grown since the start of 2025. Despite Brian Cashman's steadfast resistance to address third base, things have certainly not worked out for the best thus far.

Jazz Chisolm Jr.'s oblique injury already thinned the infield depth, though he seems determined to prove what a fast healer he is, and then things got even worse with Oswaldo Cabrera's gruesome ankle injury, likely ending his 2025 campaign.

The Yankees will try to piece it together for the foreseeable future with the likes of DJ LeMahieu, Jorbit Vivas, Oswald Peraza, and Pablo Reyes covering second and third base. Chisholm Jr.'s eventual return will help a bit, but oblique injuries tend to have lingering effects. Plus, outside of a great opening series against Milwaukee, his performance at the plate has left much to be desired.

Come the trade deadline, the Yankees will have to come to grips with the fact that they need infield help, specifically at the hot corner, and as fortune would have it, a top prospect's arrival may cause a picture-perfect third base solution to hit the trade market.

Diamondbacks' top prospect Jordan Lawlar's arrival could help Yankees at trade deadline

After tearing it up to the tune of a .336/.413/.579 in 173 Triple-A plate appearances, Jordan Lawler has forced the Arizona Diamondbacks' hand and earned a big league call-up. Lawlar has been highly regarded for a long time, but his incredible start to 2025 has seen him shoot all the way up to No. 4 on MLB.com's Top 100 prospects.

Lawlar has all the makings of a future superstar, owning impressive power, solid contact skills, blazing speed, and flashy defensive chops that he can bring to multiple positions. There's only one problem: he has no place to play.

A shortstop by trade with experience at second and third, Lawlar arrives to find those positions already occupied. Arizona has watched 25-year-old Geraldo Perdomo blossom with the bat as his offense is starting to catch up with his stellar glove work at short, earning him a four-year extension.

Fresh off a third-place finish in the 2024 NL MVP race, Arizona also gifted star second baseman Ketel Marte a lengthy extension, crossing that position off as a landing spot for Lawlar.

The hot corner in the desert is currently manned by Eugenio Suarez, a powerful right-handed bat on an expiring, yet affordable contract.

Arizona finds itself in a weird position. They are a talented team with budding young stars, yet face the harsh reality of residing in the NL West alongside behemoths like the Los Angeles Dodgers, San Diego Padres and San Francisco Giants. The gap between fourth-place Arizona and last-place Colorado Rockies 16.5 games.

Thd D-backs won't be having a fire sale anytime soon, but moving Suarez, 33, at the deadline (or before) to open up playing time for Lawlar certainly makes sense. The hot corner is Lawlar's only path to regular playing time in the years to come anyway, so why not expedite the process and get some assets back for a player who almost certainly won't be re-signed?

For the Yankees, Suarez fits like a glove. The veteran is durable, playing at least 143 games or more (with most seasons seeing him reach the high-150s) every year since 2016, save for the COVID-shortened 2020 campaign.

He's also a right-handed power bat. On the season, Suarez is slugging .524 through 46 games with 14 dingers. In fact, he's hit 30 or more home runs in five of the last six seasons (excluding 2020) including highlights like a career-high 49 in 2019, and 31 in 2022 as a member of the Seattle Mariners (where he played half his games in one of the worst ball parks for right-handed power production).

Despite a .213 batting average on the season, Suarez isn't a one-trick pony with the bat. His career walk rate of 9.8% (and 9.2% clip in 2025) are both solidly above average. His defense is not what it once was, but is still passable.

Connecting the dots, Suarez would be the perfect support player to lengthen the Yankees' top-heavy lineup while filling a major position of need. For Arizona, he's not part of their future, and likely now isn't part of their present given Lawlar's arrival.