The Yankees’ current skid has only sharpened the pressure on the front office to act before the August 3 trade deadline. New York has dropped seven straight, a stretch that includes sweeps by the Boston Red Sox and Detroit Tigers, and the roster clearly has holes that need attention. Third base is one possible area, but the bigger swing would be finding an upgrade over Austin Wells.
That’s where ESPN’s David Schoenfield enters the picture, linking the Yankees to Colorado Rockies catcher Hunter Goodman in a move that would be loud, expensive, and unlikely. Schoenfield’s own caveat says plenty about how tough this kind of deal would be to pull off.
“New York Yankees: Trade for Hunter Goodman,” Schoenfield writes. "... Goodman, who has bashed 26 home runs, would be a big get, but with three years of team control beyond 2026, he will be expensive to acquire and a position player with this much time until free agency is basically never traded at the deadline."
Goodman has been one of the standout bats in the game this season. The 26-year-old All-Star has launched 26 homers, owns a 2.0 bWAR across 81 games, and is carrying an .853 OPS. For a Yankees lineup looking for more punch, that profile jumps off the page.
Wells, by comparison, has struggled badly. In 57 games, he has posted -0.2 bWAR, hit four home runs, and slashed .488 OPS. On production alone, Goodman would be a major step up.
Of course, there’s no cheap way to get him. A deal like this would likely take a package built around Carlos Lagrange, George Lombard Jr., and perhaps more top prospects beyond that. The Rockies have little incentive to move Goodman, but if they ever do change course, the Yankees fit as a logical destination.
It’s the kind of rumor that makes sense on paper because the upgrade is obvious, even if the price is steep. And if New York were willing to pay it, Goodman would give the Yankees a much more dangerous look not just now, but heading into 2026 and beyond.
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Yankees Just Made A Bullpen Move Fans Will Absolutely Hate
A night that already felt like rock bottom only made the Yankees bullpen picture look worse. After an 11-inning loss to the Tigers completed a three-game sweep and extended the skid to seven straight, the club sent rookie right-hander Yovanny Cruz back to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, a move that landed hard with fans who had been watching the relief corps get stretched thin in recent losses.
The frustration was immediate because Cruz had just given the team a useful look in relief, and the timing came with the bullpen already short-handed while David Bednar was away on paternity leave. Instead of steadying a unit in need, the decision only fed the sense that the Yankees were making the kind of roster call that invites more questions than answers, and the reaction from around the fan base was predictably sharp. [Read more 🡒]
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The concern is not just where Rice fits, but whether the Yankees are giving him enough runway to settle in before the season moves on. His defensive lapses have drawn notice, and his recent offense has only added to the pressure, making every start feel more important than the last. If the Yankees believe he can be part of their future, they may have to live with more of the growing pains now rather than keep shuffling him into a role that leaves too much unresolved. [Read more 🡒]
Yankees Fans Wont Like Boones Latest Call During This Brutal Skid
The Yankees seven-game slide has put every late-game decision under a microscope, and Aaron Boones latest call only sharpened the scrutiny. With injuries and an offense that has struggled to find a rhythm, the manager leaned on Oswaldo Cabrera in a key spot rather than turning to a different option, a choice that fit Boones broader tendency to trust his players even when the results have been hard to ignore.
In this case, Boone framed the move as a matter of confidence in Cabreras ability to put the ball in play, not a numbers-driven calculation. That explanation is unlikely to calm a frustrated fan base while the losses keep piling up, especially with the club searching for any spark to stop the skid and get back to the kind of baseball that once made these decisions feel a lot less fraught. [Read more 🡒]