Ranking the Yankees' 4 significant 2025 trade deadline needs in order of severity

As the 2025 season unfolds, the New York Yankees' needs shift and evolve with each new development. At the start of spring training, most would have told you third base was clearly the club's most dire need. By the end of spring training, the team's strongest unit, the starting rotation, became its biggest question mark.

With the July 31 deadline a little over a month away, the way the action has unfolded has changed Brian Cashman's calculus as to which roster holes are the most urgent, which might just need a minor tweak, and which might not need anything at all.

When evaluating needs, it's also important to consider the potential solutions that might be out there. For instance, the market might not present solutions that are appreciably better than your internal options at your most dire position of need, but it may be flush with talent at another position where the need might not be as great, but the payoff from a potential move may be much more impactful.

Through that lens, we're going to consider which needs are the greatest relative to what the Yankees have now, as well as the potential impact of what may be available to them, making these rankings a bit more nuanced than meets the eye.

These 4 positions are the holes the Yankees must fill, in order of their impact

Third Base

It all comes back full circle. The Yankees neglected to fill what was their most obvious hole all offseason, leading to an uninspiring motley crew batting it out in spring training. Since then, Oswaldo Cabrera established himself as an okay-ish stopgap before unfortunately going down for the year with a gruesome leg injury.

Since then, Jazz Chisholm Jr. has taken over the hot corner, moving to the position he learned on the fly last season since returning from the IL. Offensively, he's been a major boon ... offensively. The lefty-swinging infielder is hitting .338/.403/.529 with three dingers since his return on June 3, a stark contrast to the .181/.304/.410 performance he put up pre-injury, where he went ice cold after a hot opening series against the Milwaukee Brewers.

Chisholm Jr. is absolutely capable of handling third base duties, but having him there for the rest of the season is not ideal. First, he's a significantly better defender at his natural second base, where he's posted three defensive runs saved in 251 innings. At third, his defensive performance has been significantly worse with -3 DRS in just 154 innings.

Secondly, acquiring an actual third baseman not only helps the defense by sliding Chisholm Jr. back to second, but it also forces DJ LeMahieu and his 88 wRC+ to the bench, where perhaps a lighter workload can help rejuvenate his bat to a degree.

Lastly, the potential trade options at third are significantly stronger than those available at second. Sure, hell likely freezes over before the Red Sox ship Alex Bregman to the Bronx, but Eugenio Suarez would be a picture-perfect fit, while Ramon Urias or Yoan Moncada both have warts, but would rank ahead of the options at second base.

Another Bullpen Arm

The Yankees' bullpen being ranked 10th in the league in ERA with a 3.56 mark is a bit misleading. Look no further than the relief crew coughing up a 3-0 lead to lose in extras in the June 24 matchup against the Cincinnati Reds as an example of why this unit is concerning.

Luke Weaver, despite a rough first outing, is back and will pay huge dividends as everyone slides down a peg. With a 1.04 ERA in June, it appears Devin Williams is back to his old form. Those two aren't the issue.

However, Fernando Cruz has a 4.70 ERA since May 1. Mark Leiter Jr. has been combustible at times. Ian Hamilton walks too many batters and is best suited for low-leverage work. Tim Hill has been great, but as a submarine lefty, there are limits to what you can count on him for. Jonathan Loáisiga has looked poor since coming off the IL, and his lengthy injury history can't be trusted; he left with a trainer on Tuesday and stayed back at the hotel with an illness Wednesday.

Adding another arm in the pen, one that can handle seventh-inning duty, would do wonders for the team while helping to shorten games in October, a tried and true strategy that the Yankees have utilized to great success in the past.

The good news is that the pool of relievers who should be available at the deadline is deep and varied. While other clubs might fight over the top-end closers, with Weaver and Williams in tow, the Yankees don't need that. Instead, they can shop in the next tier below with guys like Shelby Miller, Phil Maton, Caleb Ferguson, and possibly even Bucs fireman David Bednar among others as reasonable targets who can handle set-up duty, but won't break the bank.

Second Base/Utility Infielder

How much of a need second base truly is depends on whether or not the Yankees are able to get a real third baseman. If they are, Jazz Chisholm Jr. slides back to the keystone and all is right with the world. If not, well...

The Yankees' potential targets at second base might not be the most inspiring, especially if Tampa Bay decides they want to hold on to Brandon Lowe for their playoff push. Still, there are a few names that may be available that can clear the LeMahieu bar and serve as a marginal upgrade while Jazz mans the hot corner.

Another way to repurpose this, however, is to look at the more defensively versatile options as an upgrade to Oswald Peraza and his .522 OPS. Somebody still has to back up Anthony Volpe, after all.

A guy like the Twins' Willi Castro would be a tremendous get. With the ability to hit from both sides and an .810 OPS on the season, Castro could usurp LeMahieu for the everyday second base job, while also providing the versatility to fill in at third, short, and the outfield, kicking Peraza off the roster and still giving some more limited opportunities to LeMahieu.

Others like Luis Urias of the Athletics, or the less-likely-to-be-moved Gavin Lux of the Cincinnati Reds, also fit this bill.

Overall, the talent level likely to be available at third is greater, which is a main reason why second is rated as a lower need, but the two are very interconnected. One significant addition between the two positions is a necessity, and an additional piece with versatility would serve as a nice luxury.

Starting Pitcher

It's a little ironic that after suffering an utterly devastating blow to what was supposed to be the strength of the team coming into the season, starting pitching isn't ranked higher on the necessity scale after ace Gerrit Cole was lost for the year due to Tommy John surgery.

The rash of injuries, first to Clarke Schmidt and Luis Gil, and then to the mercurial Marcus Stroman shortly after the season began, made the rotation look like the club's most urgent priority at the deadline.

Since then, Max Fried has become a Cy Young frontrunner, Carlos Rodón is finally living up to the expectations the Yankees placed on him when they awarded him a lavish six-year deal ahead of the 2023 season, and the rest of the pieces have more or less fallen into place.

Schmidt has returned and looked dominant at times. Will Warren has had his ups and downs, but ultimately has been an acceptable fifth starter with the potential to grow into more.

Not everything is perfect; scrapheap find Ryan Yarbrough emerged as an integral part of the rotation before suffering an oblique strain that landed him on the IL. The good news is that Yarbrough shouldn't be out long term, and the Yankees will also welcome back last year's AL Rookie of the Year in Gil, as well as Stroman, in the near future.

After surviving a perilous first couple of months, the rotation should have the requisite top-end talent and necessary depth to be a force in the second half, leading into the postseason.

There are a few factors, though, that could make this group something that Brian Cashman needs to address at the deadline.

First, any more injuries and the rotation shoots up the list in terms of severity of need. Second, getting a look at the returning arms, particularly Gil, will be paramount as the Yankees evaluate whether or not the unit looks October-ready.

Assuming all are healthy, the playoff rotation should be Fried, Rodón, Schmidt, and Gil. Will that be enough? As far as the first three are concerned, yes, as long as they're healthy, but as for Gil, that is going to depend on how he performs once he returns to a big league mound.

Gil and Schmidt have proven to be a bit fragile in their young careers, so if something were to happen to them, the Yankees may need to target a mid-to-back-of-the-rotation arm, as the trust meter with Stroman has plummeted to new lows. Thankfully, the market for those types of rotation arms is more robust than aces, which it seemed the club might need to chase when the melee of spring training maladies hit.

Overall, depending on how the soon-to-return starters look, the Yankees might not have to do anything here, and if they do, the work should be light.