Yankees Rumors: Cardinals could give NYY second chance to trade for bullpen help

Trade rumors are starting to percolate, and an update from USA Today's Bob Nightengale brought up two targets that should be on the New York Yankees radar as they look to strengthen the roster for the stretch run.

Part of what has been tough when it comes to determining buyers and sellers this season has been the glut of teams stuck in the middle. Many teams are hovering around the .500 mark, making it difficult to determine who believes they're a couple of pieces away from making a run, and who believes they've overachieved and regression is coming.

One of those teams that is declaring it falls into that second cohort is the St. Louis Cardinals. The Cardinals are sitting at 35-28, surprising folks as they sold off veterans over the offseason, starting with Sonny Gray to the Red Sox. Per Nightengale, they're now expected to deal lefty reliever JoJo Romero and starter Dustin May by the August 3 deadline. Both players should pique the Yankees' interest.

Yankees should eye Cardinals' pitchers JoJo Romero and Dustin May via trade

The obvious piece here is Romero, who has been one of the better left-handed relievers in the league the last several years. Through June 7, the 29-year-old has logged 28 2/3 innings over 29 appearances with a 3.45 ERA.

The Yankees need to be searching high and low for bullpen help, and Romero's unique skill set could be a huge solution for the relief corps. On the surface, with two mid-to-high leverage lefties in Tim Hill and Brent Headrick on the roster already, adding another such southpaw might seem superfluous.

Instead, Romero makes a ton of sense. Hill is a quintessential lefty specialist, but Headrick has some extreme reverse splits, allowing a .256 wOBA to righties and a .379 wOBA to left-handed hitters. Romero is more balanced, allowing a .304 wOBA to same-handed hitters and a .315 wOBA when at a platoon disadvantage. However, don't mistake that balance for Romero being soft on lefties. With a 31.9% strikeout rate against lefties, Romero can serve as something of a second lefty specialist.

Romero is also a solid high-leverage option. This year, he's posted a 3.66 FIP in the most pressure-packed situations. As a secondary late-inning option, that's not a bad deal. Given that he bridges the gap between what Hill and Headrick do well, he's an intriguing option.

He's also not going to be prohibitively expensive. We all know that Brian Cashman doesn't like to pay a premium for relievers, and that goes double this year with Aroldis Chapman expected to be the top option to hit the market. Given how that ended last time, that's not going to be a consideration.

As for May, he's an interesting option, though less likely. If the Yankees were to pursue him, he could help in one of two ways. First, a move to the bullpen could help unlock his stuff. The 28-year-old has a seriously long injury history, which includes a near-fatal bout with a salad. While nothing can protect him from a rogue piece of lettuce, pitching out of the 'pen could keep his arm healthy, as he's only been able to top the 100-inning threshold once as a starter.

May's throwing 97 on average as a starter, which would get a boost in relief while simplifying his repertoire to include only his fastball, his sinker, and slider. The latter two pitches have produced Stuff+ marks of 114 and 117, respectively.

The second benefit is that acquiring him could consolidate the redundancy the Yankees have with Paul Blackburn and Ryan Yarbrough, and push both of the underwhelming veterans off the roster.

The Yankees don't trust either Blackburn or Yarbrough to actually make a spot start, so that's another role that May could fill during the dog days of the summer and keep everyone fresh.

Neither of these Cardinals' arms would qualify as a blockbuster acquisition, but they'd both add value to the roster and wouldn't cost a ton to acquire, making them both likely targets and worthy candidates.

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