After signing Max Fried, the New York Yankees have an enviable amount of starting pitching depth. Between Fried, Gerrit Cole, Carlos Rodón, Marcus Stroman, Nestor Cortes Jr., Luis Gil, and Clarke Schmidt, the Yankees have seven pitchers who have a legitimate claim to a rotation spot.
With a surplus of starters, they can leverage that depth to address needs on the roster in the trade market instead of free agency.
What should the Yankees target in a trade?
Of their list of starting pitchers, Gil and Schmidt would be the most attractive for other clubs in a trade (assuming Cole and Fried are going nowhere). Gil comes with five years of remaining control while Schmidt has three. What another club might be interested in comes down whether they prefer Gil's bat-missing ability and future upside or Schmidt's longer track record and safer profile.
The biggest area of concern for the Yankees right now is their lineup after losing Juan Soto to their crosstown rival. Replacing a bat like that can't be done individually, but in the famous words of Billy Beane in the 2011 Moneyball movie, "we can recreate him in the aggregate".
They'll have to do it by getting a strong bat at all the currently vacant positions on the depth chart. Right now, they're missing starters at first base, second base, and in the outfield.
At first base, the latest rumor is the Yankees have pivoted toward former Diamondback Christian Walker. Walker has been an effective hitter for Arizona in the past three seasons, batting .251 with 95 home runs, and has won three straight Gold Gloves at first base.
Naturally, Walker is a highly sought-after free agent, and the Yankees may have to turn to the trade market if they can't land him. It's extremely unlikely that they'll ever pry Ryan Mountcastle or Triston Casas from their American East rivals, but Josh Naylor would make for a solid trade target.
They've also been linked to a couple of left-handed hitting outfielders in Cody Bellinger and Kyle Tucker. Both outfielders make sense for the Yankees, as they could fill one of their two open spots in the outfield with Soto gone and Alex Verdugo also a free agent. Bellinger would seamlessly slide in at center field (pushing Aaron Judge back to right field), while Tucker would start in left.
The other open position is second base, with Gleyber Torres currently testing the free agent waters. Oswaldo Cabrera could be an internal target at third, moving deadline acquisition Jazz Chisholm Jr. back to second, but he has been a below-average hitter with an 87 OPS+ in 267 career games.
A couple of trade candidates for the position include the Cubs' Nico Hoerner or the Nationals' Luis García Jr., both of whom are solid defenders. García could be the more attractive trade piece as a left-handed bat with more remaining years of team control.
With an enviable amount of pitching depth, the Yankees could go out and add a key bat to their lineup through the trade market. At the same time, they have to be careful about being too aggressive with trading rotation depth, as it could deplete quickly if they run into injury troubles.