Yankees' Ryan Weathers trade looks much better after early prospect performance

Ryan Weathers' early Yankees career has been a roller coaster from Day 1, when he shut down the Nationals (it's only spring training) and looked so good (it's only spring training) that it was impossible not to be flooded with delusions of grandeur. After that remarkable unveiling, he stumbled significantly (it's only spring training), and posted a few up-and-down regular season outings that had Yankee fans questioning whether he was the correct trade target to drop off four prospects in exchange for.

Tack on the fact that the Yankees had originally been talking to the Marlins about Edward Cabrera instead, and all of this seemed like a scenario where they settled on the less durable arm and tried to convince fans they'd always intended to save him.

At the time of the deal, the agreed-upon talking head line of thinking sounded a lot like the way all Tampa Bay Rays trades are discussed. "Love this deal for the Yankees' pitching lab! Marlins are unserious! Who'd they give up? And who'd they get?"

Safe to say, we had a healthy degree of skepticism, especially over the cost. But ... well ...

It's early still, but Weathers has been riding a hot hand lately, shutting out the Royals and melting the A's (with a Mike Trout-led home run barrage against the Angels in between). And while we still believe in Dillon Lewis, who felt like a Top 100 riser, and Brendan Jones, who seemed like a Brett Gardner clone at the time of the trade ... neither has done much to make Yankee fans regret rolling the dice on Weathers.

Yankees prospects Dillon Lewis, Brendan Jones struggling with Marlins after Ryan Weathers trade

Lewis, one of the Yankees' few true potential starting center field prospects, appeared to be on the verge of pulling his athleticism together into a certified leap. Instead, after a season where he bashed 22 home runs with a .766 OPS, he's begun 2026 with a .689 mark and three home runs in 16 games after being elevated to Double-A. He's struck out 19 times in 58 at-bats.

Jones? At the same level, he's stuck at .193 with a .719 OPS, matching 10 walks with a somewhat hard-to-fathom 21 strikeouts. That's just not him.

The Yankees' crowded outfield picture — which still includes Spencer Jones and Jasson Domínguez attempting to fight their way in — created a pathway for New York's front office to leverage (Brendan) Jones and Lewis. We pushed back against adding another project to the rotation as a viable use of their talents, but so far ... Weathers looks like a tantalizing No. 5 and a potentially very helpful bullpen lengthener if/when the rotation is fully healthy, and Lewis and Jones look like two players who've hit an extended Double-A adjustment period.

You can't declare victory yet, but you can certainly declare that the vision makes more sense now.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow