Yankees trade for Oakland A’s SP Frankie Montas, reliever Lou Trivino

According to Jeff Passan of ESPN, the New York Yankees have traded for Oakland A’s starting pitcher Frankie Montas and reliever Lou Trivino. In return, the A’s will get four prospects.

According to Jack Curry of YES, left-handed pitcher Ken Waldichuk, right-handed pitcher Luis Medina, left-handed pitcher JP Sears, and second baseman Cooper Bowman are being sent from the Yankees organization to the A’s.

The New York Yankees have traded for Oakland A’s pitchers Frankie Montas and Lou Trivino

The Yankees wanted to address their starting rotation after Luis Severino suffered an injury and after the rotation faltered in July and they have by trading for Oakland A’s starter Frankie Montas. Lou Trivino will also help the bullpen, which has suffered a lot of injuries of late too.

In the month of July, the Yankees rotation had a 4.38 ERA, which is 21st in baseball. Before July, their starter ERA was 3.05, or second-best in the sport.

Montas has a 3.18 ERA in 19 starts with a 118 ERA+, a 1.127 WHIP, a 3.36 FIP, and an average of 2.4 walks and 9.4 strikeouts per nine innings. He had a nearly identical season last year for the A’s and he came in sixth in AL Cy Young voting. Best of all for the Yankees is that he is under control through next season.

Trivino has had a ton of bad luck this season. He has a 6.47 ERA in 39 games but he has a good FIP of 3.84. He also has 10 saves in 12 opportunities so, with Clay Holmes’ recent struggles, he could close if needed. Trivino is averaging 3.9 walks and 12.7 strikeouts per nine innings.

In return, the A’s are getting four prospects. According to MLB.com, Ken Waldichuk was the Yankees #4 prospect. Medina was #10, Sears was #20, and Bowman was #21. Waldichuk could slide right into the A’s rotation. He has split the season between Double-A and Triple-A and he has a 2.71 ERA in 17 starts. 11 of those have been at Triple-A, where he has a 3.59 ERA.

Sears has already made his MLB debut (2.05 ERA in seven games, two starts) and in Triple-A this year, he has made 11 appearances (9 starts) and he has a 1.67 ERA.

Medina and Bowman are at Double-A and High-A. Bowman was the fourth-round pick for the Yankees in last year’s draft.

We will have more as the story develops.