Yankees Land Frankie Montas, Lou Trivino From Oakland To Bolster Their Pitching Staff

The New York Yankees have landed Oakland Athletics RHP Frankie Montas and closer Lou Trivino in exchange for Ken Waldichuk, J.P. Sears, Luis Medina and Cooper Bowman. A nice little haul for Oakland, who's grown accustomed to selling off their talent, but this is more of a win for Yankees' GM Brian Cashman than anything else.

Zero of these prospects were ranked in the Yankees' top 5 list. Meaning the Yankees found their no. two starter to slot behind Gerrit Cole, all while maintaining key pieces for long term success.

Prospects don't always turn into big league talent -- acquiring big league talent for players, at least according to the rankings, that are less likely to become key contributors? That's a major 'W' for New York.

Last month, Frankie Montas was day-to-day with a shoulder injury removing him from a start against the Mariners that was eventually diagnosed as 'shoulder inflammation.' The 29-year-old flame throwing right-hander has since returned to the mound and shown he's still got his velocity. Often times, players will insist they're healthy enough to contribute while the radar gun tells the whole story. Montas' return clearly gave the Yankees all the answers they needed to go ahead and pull the trigger on this deal.

Montas has posted an ERA of 3.18 in his 19 appearances for Oakland with 109 strikeouts in 104.2 innings of work. One of those starts was a two-run gem at Yankee Stadium back in June...

As for reliever Lou Trivino, his numbers haven't been so great in 2022. The Yankees are buying low on the right-hander, but they're also finding the silver-lining on this addition. Trivino's 6.47 ERA stands out as a clunker, yet the Yankees believe in some more advanced statistics. His spin has been excellent this year, and according to advanced data, he's surrendered some weak contact that's led to some unfortunate runs. Of course pitchers are paid to get outs and not to be lucky, but the Yankees have shown they're willing to take chances on players like they did last season with then Pirates reliever Clay Holmes. The spin and velocity were there for results to show, he just hadn't put it together until Yankees pitching coach Matt Blake got ahold of him. Now he's the Yankees' best reliever by a mile.

Is this deadline enough for the Yankees to hoist World Series title no. 28 this October? They replaced Joey Gallo with Andrew Benintendi, found a juggernaut arm in Frankie Montas to create a 1-2 punch with Cole, and earlier today landed sidearm reliever Scott Effross from the Cubs. They did all this while keeping the core of their farm system. Plenty can be done between now and tomorrow trade deadline...