With the trade deadline set for 6 p.m. ET on Monday, the Yankees still have a bullpen job to finish - and ESPN’s Buster Olney thinks the answer could come from an unexpected place.
Olney floated the idea on SportsCenter that the Yankees and Mets could pull off a “rare” swap involving Luke Weaver, with Weaver heading back to the Bronx to help reinforce the late innings. That would give the Yankees another option if they miss out on Mason Miller from the Padres, and it would slot Weaver into a relief group that already includes Fernando Cruz, Brent Headrick, Paul Blackburn, Angel Chivilli, and David Bednar.
“Luke Weaver is maybe the most coveted reliever on the marketplace,” Olney said Monday on SportsCenter. “And I’m wondering if the Yankees and Mets might wind up making that rare Yankee-Met trade with Luke Weaver going back to the team where he pitched so well the last two years.”
Weaver was a key high-leverage arm for the Yankees from 2023-25 before signing a two-year, $22 million deal with the Mets in December 2025.
His biggest role with the Yankees came in September 2024, when he took over as the club’s primary closer after Clay Holmes. Weaver finished the regular season with 4 saves, then picked up 8 more in the postseason as New York advanced to the World Series against the Dodgers.
Holmes, meanwhile, is also with the Mets now, and his name has come up in trade chatter too, including talk of a possible return to the Yankees. Other teams are involved as well. He’s coming off a minor league rehab start after recovering from a broken fibula.
“As of this morning there are a bunch of contenders still looking for starting pitching, the Phillies, maybe the Milwaukee Brewers,” Olney said, “but he is going to get traded.”
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Mets Deadline Purge Is Already Hitting Familiar Names
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On the roster side, the Mets also made room by promoting Robert Stock and Bryce Conley while designating Kevin Herget and MJ Melendez for assignment. For a team trying to thread the needle between present depth and future value, these are the kinds of decisions that can reshape the bullpen and the organizational picture in a hurry, even if the final ripple from this purge is still taking shape. [Read more 🡒]