Yankees-Mets trade rumors begin to simmer (with former fan favorite on the market)

This year's Subway Series was a little bit different than the 2022 edition. Last time around, the surging Mets caught the "record-pace-oh-no-we-fell-off-it" Yankees early in their summer spiral. This time? The barely-above-.500 Yankees played like ... well, themselves against the nearly-out-of-it Mets.

Midway through the set, SNY's Andy Martino reported that Flushing's Finest had begun to calibrate their trade deadline sale, while the Yankees still intended to push gamely ahead. Hal Steinbrenner and Brian Cashman's master plan appears to involve getting Aaron Judge back, adding a right-handed platoon bat for Jake Bauers/Billy McKinney, and shaving payroll in the process. Best of luck with all that. Steve Cohen and Billy Eppler's strategy? It's simple: sell rentals.

No, not Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer. The other rentals. Who knows? You might accidentally get a lil' better and improve your playoff chances, a la the 2016 Yankees.

Who's on the docket? Closer David Robertson for one, who'll be a great get for whoever takes the plunge, because he always is (the Yankees have yet to be connected). Outfielders Tommy Pham and Mark Canha are both likely to be dealt, too, and Martino made it clear that either one could be a Yankees fit.

Can we, uh, just have Robertson and Randal Grichuk, actually?

Yankees Trade Rumors: Tommy Pham, Mark Canha light your fire?

Quoth Martino:

In recent seasons, the Yankees have sought to become more left handed at the trade deadline, like in 2021 when they added Joey Gallo and Anthony Rizzo.

This time, sources say, they would be content with a righty-hitting left fielder to platoon with the likes of Jake Bauers and Billy McKinney.

To that end, an industry source pointed to Canha and Pham as fits for the Yankees. A second source said that the teams hadn’t yet engaged in serious dialogue about those players.

The Mets' insider also added that catcher might not be a Yankees pursuit, despite Jose Trevino's injury. Axe that potential Mets-Yankees Omar Narvaez overlap, we guess.

Canha and Pham are both the textbook definition of rock solid, and the Yankees could use an infusion of ... something against right-handed pitchers (they rank 21st offensively against them). Canha doesn't have clear platoon splits, hitting .247 with a .705 OPS against righties and .214 with a slightly superior .712 OPS against southpaws. Pham has been far better, though he mashes lefties harder than righties (.879 vs. .794).

If you've ever scrolled through the Yankees' starting lineup, though, you know that any of those OPS marks beginning with 7s or 8s would be preferable to the current unit. Not sure if rentals are floating your boat for this particular fringe contender (rentals not named "David Robertson" at least), but the niceties of Cohen and Steinbrenner's current relationship will definitely be tested in the week to come.