Yankees trade for Rockies reliever with ghastly ERA in another Matt Blake challenge

The New York Yankees issued a direct challenge to their myriad content creators when they acquired Miami Marlins left-hander Ryan Weathers out of nowhere two weeks back. He was on almost no one's radar (to be fair, I'm sure someone came up with the idea prior to the Yankees executing, but I have no idea who). How can we spend a whole offseason talking about potential Yanks targets and miss the one guy they actually paid the price for?

Well, who knows? But it happened again on Wednesday. And it happened in a way weider manner.

The Yankees either just struck absolute gold or filled a bullpen spot with a controllable mess. Thankfully, for the risk-averse among us, it didn't cost a prize prospect like Jasson Domínguez to make it happen.

As first broken by Jack Curry, the Yankees flipped blocked first base prospect (and 25-year-old) TJ Rumfield to the Colorado Rockies in exchange for Angel Chivilli. You'll be forgiven if you've never heard of Chivilli, who posted a 7.06 ERA last season for a Rockies team we can almost guarantee you didn't watch. He also has the highest WHIP on record I've ever seen from a Yankees addition (1.688 last year).

But - but - he throws 97 MPH. He's 23 years old. He's out of Coors Field, and he's into a progressive pitching development system. He's under control through 2030. He throws a changeup, but it does not work (though his offspeed run value, in the 25th percentile, is actually his best Savant mark). Enter Matt Blake? Please?

Yankees trade for reliever Angel Chivilli from Colorado Rockies, per Jack Curry

If Blake is unable to get Chivilli right this season, then no harm, no foul; he'll ride the DFA rails when he's out of minor-league options.

It doesn't take too deep a dive to see what the Yankees saw here, though. His elite fastball velocity fell in the 88th percentile last year. He garnered whiffs and groundballs in the 80th and 84th percentiles, respectively. Don't read this as some sort of justification that Chivilli is a tick or two away from being a madman/monster; he was completely unable to execute over the past two seasons, and there's a chance he just ain't got it.

But going from Colorado to the Yankees' bullpen can help a pitcher who was much better in his rookie season than in his sophomore slump gain traction. He throws his poor changeup 36.6% of the time. He's already used to Blake's preferred cadence. A grip shift could work wonders.

Or, again, it absolutely couldn't. Thankfully, Rumfield was a trade chip through and through without a future in the Bronx. The loss probably won't sting here, and he'll get a great opportunity. The worst that can happen is that the experiment fails and Chivilli is buried/this dissolves into nothingness. The best that can happen? That's for Blake to decide - but, clearly, he saw something he liked.

Tell you what, though: Ryan McMahon, Jake Bird, Chivilli ... the Yankees-Rockies pipeline is pretty undeniable these days, and the Rockies are worse than ever. Not making any sort of grand statement. Just leaving that there for the pessimists to eat if they want to eat it.