Re-grading Yankees' 2022 trade deadline: What went so very wrong?

Grading Yankees' Scott Effross/Hayden Wesneski Trade

Then: A
Now: B-

The amount of control the Yankees have over Scott Effross means they still have an ample opportunity to benefit from this trade; prior to his surgery, Effross was a high-upside reliever who provided a very different look, bending elite sliders into the other box routinely. Despite low velocity, he managed to be one of MLB's elite limiters of hard contact last season, and showed the Yankees a great deal of gumption, too, squeezing out of some tight spots when called upon (will never forget that Fenway game with the IKF dinger).

That said ... Hayden Wesneski is also quite controllable! And he'd still be here now, probably holding down a spot in the Yankees' troubled rotation, if they hadn't decided to risk it all for a 28-year-old rookie reliever.

We believe there's still plenty of room to love Effross from 2024-2027, but Wesneski fills a bigger need, and was already a steep price to pay for a middle-innings reliever prior to any medical complications.