If the Yankees miss out on Mason Miller, Luke Weaver is the kind of fallback that could still shake up the deadline.
The latest Yankees rumors have them chasing the San Diego Padres closer, but that pursuit comes with a steep price. San Diego paid plenty to get Miller, including the second best prospect in MLB Leo De Vries, so there’s no reason to expect them to make life easy for New York or anyone else.
And while Miller is the headline name, the fit is a little curious when David Bednar is already sitting on a 2.70 ERA as the team’s closer this year. Bednar has just two blown saves and has put together a scoreless stretch over his last 19 innings and 16 games.
That’s where Weaver enters the picture.
Weaver should still cost a lot, but not nearly what Miller would demand. If the Yankees want to address another need at catcher, they could use their prospect capital on someone like Hunter Goodman and then pivot to Weaver as the Miller alternative. He also checks one of the biggest boxes any player faces in New York: can he handle the pressure?
There’s no proof Miller would struggle under the lights in New York, but there’s no way to know that in advance. The Yankees and Mets have both seen how unpredictable that can be.
Edwin Diaz was horrible in his first year with the Mets. Devin Williams, now on his second New York club in two seasons, hasn’t looked like the pitcher he was with the Milwaukee Brewers.
Ryan Helsley was a bust for the Mets. Camilo Doval left his abilities in San Francisco.
Weaver’s track record in New York makes him a different kind of option. He has already handled both clubs, and he’s been successful moving from one to the other before.
His run with the Mets was especially strong, and he still hasn’t allowed an earned run since April 30, with only a ghost runner finally ending the streak. That kind of stability would make him one of the more explosive trade deadline possibilities if the Yankees decide Miller is too expensive.
The Mets and Yankees almost never trade with each other, and in-season deals between them are even rarer. Most of the moves are forgettable, like the July of 1989 swap of Marcus Lawton for Scott Nielsen. The last trade involving players in the middle of a season was the Armando Benitez deal in 2003, when he went to the Bronx for a couple of games before getting traded again.
The most recent trade between the two clubs sent Luis Torrens to Flushing for cash. A Weaver return to the Yankees would be a far bigger swing than that.
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