Yankees make questionable trade with Cubs to bolster ailing bullpen

The last trade the New York Yankees made with the Chicago Cubs for relief help blew up in their face when Scott Effross immediately went down with Tommy John surgery and then needed a back procedure as he was rehabbing his elbow. That cost the organization top pitching prospect Hayden Wesneski.

On Tuesday, the Yankees made another bullpen deal with the Cubs, importing Mark Leiter Jr. from Chicago in exchange for prospects Ben Cowles and Jack Neeley. Cowles, an infielder, was their No. 29-ranked prospect, while Neely, a right-handed reliever, ranked 22nd.

Leiter Jr. has amassed a solid body of work from 2022-2024. With the Cubs, he owns a 3.85 ERA, 1.12 WHIP and 3.62 FIP across 143 games. He's struck out 203 batters over 168 1/3 innings. His peripheral metrics, especially in 2024, absolutely pass the test, too.

Leiter's five-pitch mix of sinker, split-finger, curveball, sweeper and cutter certainly brings a new dynamic to the bullpen and he's controllable through 2026. But Neely had an impressive rise through the Yankees system the last two years and appeared as if he'd be ready for big-league action as early as September when rosters expanded.

Was this an overpay given how much more the Yankees actually need to address on trade deadline day?

Yankees make questionable trade with Cubs to bolster ailing bullpen

Not to mention, Cowles is hitting .295 with an .848 OPS in 88 games with Double-A Somerset this year. He has nine homers, 51 RBI and 14 stolen bases and can play second base, third base and shortstop.

Then again, prospects are fungible, so making a deal for proven big-league talent is almost always the route to go if you're trying to win a championship. Cowles also must be protected from the Rule 5 Draft at the end of the year, or he'll be lost altogether.

But the jury's out in regard to whether or not Leiter Jr. is the right talent. Or, maybe he is, but he's suffering from some bad luck at the moment, which almost never improves upon arrival in New York. The right-hander has a .301 batting average on balls in play despite holding hitters to a .196 average on the season, which explains his elevated ERA (4.21) vs very good FIP (2.11). That disrepancy is by far the highest of his career.

Then again, Leiter Jr. gets a ton of swing and miss, which is what the bullpen desperately needs right now. After seeing how elevated the asking prices were on the relif market, perhaps Brian Cashman pivoted to some cheaper options with similar profiles in order to get what he needed.

Neely was almost ready for the bigs, though, so that will be what's talked about over the next few weeks if Leiter doesn't fit into the bullpen picture seamlessly.