The Yankees’ catching problem has gone from annoyance to full-blown deadline pressure, and now the name getting the loudest buzz is not the obvious one.
New York has spent the second half staring at one of the least productive catching groups in baseball, and with the trade deadline set for Aug. 3, there is no time to let the position sort itself out. The Yankees are 54-43 and second in the American League East, which means they need help now, not later.
General manager Brian Cashman has already put the issue on the record. He called catcher a concern, a blunt admission from an executive who usually keeps his cards close. And he backed that up with an even more direct assessment of where things stand.
“It’s become an area of concern, clearly, when it wasn’t expected to be,” Cashman said. “But I know [Wells is] doing everything he can, and they are doing everything they can, to improve in that category.
And I know they are capable of that. At the same time, it’s been a struggle.”
The main source of the trouble is Austin Wells. The bat has gone cold in a big way, with Wells hitting .155 with six home runs and 13 RBIs. His defense has held up, but the offense has not come close to what the Yankees expected from the position.
That has pushed the front office into a market that is both thin and expensive. New York has shown interest in Hunter Goodman and Ryan Jeffers, but both options appear to be slipping away. Goodman is hitting .251 with 27 homers and 51 RBIs, while Jeffers has put together a .294/.408/.540 line with a .948 OPS despite missing time with a hamate injury.
Goodman looks like a long shot because the Rockies want to keep him. He entered the All-Star break with 27 home runs, second among National League hitters, and he is under control through 2029. Jeffers is also difficult to pry loose, since the Twins have no interest in moving him unless they fall out of the AL Central race, where they sit just a couple of games back.
That is why a different name has started to gain traction: Gabriel Moreno of the Arizona Diamondbacks.
The idea came from Trevor Plouffe on the Talkin’ Baseball program, where he dismissed the Jeffers fit and made the case for Moreno instead. Plouffe pointed to the Yankees’ prospect depth and Moreno’s contract situation as reasons the deal could make sense.
“I just don’t think it’s (Jeffers to the Yankees) going to happen,” Plouffe said on Talkin’ Baseball. “I do think the Yankees have a ton to give up, high minor-league players ready to make the jump.
This guy has control, this year plus two more. Catcher from the Snakes, Gabriel Moreno, goes to the Yankees.”
Plouffe went further, tying the fit to the Yankees’ current window.
“I think they can go out and get this guy. They have a bit of a logjam at the top there.
The Diamondbacks would want major league-ready talent, and the Yankees can give them that. This is the solution for a couple of years; this lines up with Judge and that whole window.
He’d be a hell of a New York Yankee.”
Moreno checks a lot of boxes. He is 26, hitting .301 with six home runs and 32 RBIs this season, and he brings the kind of right-handed bat the Yankees could use in a lineup that has leaned heavily on Judge before his rib injury.
He also brings elite defense. In his Gold Glove season, Moreno led all catchers with 20 defensive runs saved and posted the highest defensive WAR in the majors, while throwing out roughly 39 percent of would-be base stealers. He became the first Arizona catcher ever to win the award.
The contract situation makes him even more appealing. Moreno is signed through the 2028 season, which would give New York three postseason runs with the same catcher instead of a short-term rental.
Of course, that kind of player does not come cheap. Arizona would have to be persuaded to part with a 26-year-old Gold Glove catcher who is under control for years, and that likely means asking for the kind of MLB-ready talent the Yankees would rather keep. The Diamondbacks also have little reason to move him, which is why this still feels more like a possibility than a momentum-filled rumor.
But the fit is real. The Yankees need offense and defense behind the plate, and Moreno offers both.
The only question left is whether Cashman is willing to pay the price before Aug. 3.
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