Yankees fleece Reds in under the radar trade

The New York Yankees were embarrassed when their next door neighbors poached Juan Soto from them almost two weeks ago. Since then, they've gotten off the mat and added the likes of Max Fried, Devin Williams and Cody Bellinger to their roster.

In all, those were solid responses to losing Soto. And their string of strong moves continued Friday evening, when they acquired reliever Fernando Cruz and catcher Alex Jackson from the Cincinnati Reds in exchange for former All-Star catcher Jose Trevino.

If there were a truly notable name in this deal, it's Trevino. That may make it seem like the Reds come out ahead in this trade. However, the reality is that New York capitalized on Cincinnati's desperation to add talent, and added a high-ceiling arm to its bullpen.

The Yankees are the clear winners of thsi trade

Trevino earned his 2022 All-Star nod on the back of a 130 wRC+ in May and a 122 wRC+ in June. Offense has never really been his game. Despite those strong months, he ended the 2022 campaign with a wRC+ of 90, meaning he was 10% worse than the average hitter when all was said and done.

Fortunately for him, catcher offense is considered a bonus more than a necessity. And defensively, Trevino is strong as ever. Per Statcast, he recorded 10 Catcher Framing Runs (fourth-most) and seven Blocks Above Average (ninth-most) in just 73 games last season.

Those metrics are a massive improvement over what Luke Maile (-4 CFR; 2 BAA) provided the Reds in a backup role in 2024. Trevino is undoubtedly an upgrade. But the price they paid to improve their catcher depth was exceptionally high.

Cruz, 35, was one of the best strikeout artists in MLB last season. No pitcher who threw more than 30 innings racked up more strikeouts per nine (14.72) than him. He's also under team control for four more seasons. Trevino is set to enter free agency next offseason.

Is Cruz an elite MLB reliever? Probably not. But Cincinnati has little bullpen depth as is. There's a reason Cruz appeared in a team-high 69 games last season, 39 of which came on zero or one day of rest. The Reds evidently have a replacement in mind, but who that may be is unclear.

Meanwhile, the Yankees know who's "replacing" Trevino. Austin Wells (12 CFR; 4 BAA) provided great defense and solid offense (105 wRC+) in 115 games. He functioned as the primary catcher throughout New York's run to the World Series, and will start for them this year.

At the end of the day, the Yankees added a reliever who can form a nice bridge with Luke Weaver to Devin Williams for their backup catcher. They also gained roughly $3 million to allocate toward their signing of Paul Goldschmidt earlier this afternoon.

The Reds? They added $3 million to what's expected to be a $100 million payroll for 2025 in the form of a second catcher. In return, they sacrificed a high-ceiling reliever (and threw in another backstop in Jackson).

Cincinnati, in theory, has time to build a bullpen. But the odds of them throwing money at the issue is slim to none. The potential gain brought from Trevino feels, at best, canceled out by Cruz's loss.

MLB Trade Values sees the transaction as a massive benefit (16.3 value for NYY; 5.2 value for CIN) to the Yankees. Their assessment isn't the end-all, be-all, but it tracks. This was a low-risk, high-reward move for New York and (hopefully) a wash for Cincinnati. As a result, the Yankees are clear winners of the deal.

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