When the Yankees went out and got David Bednar, they knew the price wouldn’t be small. New York was willing to move real prospect talent for bullpen help, and for a while it looked like the club had landed a steal from Pittsburgh. Now, though, the deal is looking a lot more balanced - and Rafael Flores Jr. is the reason why.
Flores Jr. has turned into one of the more eye-catching breakout stories in Pittsburgh’s season. The Pirates have already missed the playoffs in 2026, but they’ve still put together one of their better years in recent memory and could finish above .500 for the first time since 2018. A big part of that push has come from unexpected offense, with Flores Jr. right in the middle of it.
The catcher’s numbers since reaching the majors have jumped off the page. After hitting four home runs in 65 games for Triple-A Indianapolis, Flores Jr. has exploded for Pittsburgh, going deep 10 times and driving in 22 runs in 43 big league games. His .910 OPS with the Pirates is also more than 200 points better than his season mark in the minors.
For the Yankees, that kind of production from a former prospect is tough to watch. New York has struggled to get much at all from the catcher spot, and Flores Jr. is now giving the kind of buyer’s remorse that comes when a player suddenly takes off somewhere else.
It’s a familiar feeling, too, after Carlos Narváez’s 2024 run with the Boston Red Sox. At this point, the Bednar trade looks about as close to even as a deal can get.
That doesn’t mean the Yankees came away empty-handed. Bednar has been exactly the kind of reliever they needed, no matter the cost.
Over a season and a half, he has piled up 44 saves and settled down the back end of the bullpen. He’s also given the Yankees flexibility because he can regularly get more than three outs in a game, something that even many top closers don’t provide.
In 83 appearances across the last two seasons, Bednar has posted an ERA+ of 170 and a 1.011 WHIP. He can make things tense at times, but he has been as reliable as the Yankees have had in the ninth inning in years.
His 1.9 fWAR doesn’t place him among baseball’s 10 best relievers, but the value is obvious. The Yankees needed a pitcher like Bednar, and they paid for him.
Meanwhile, Flores Jr.’s rise gives Pittsburgh a real win in the deal, too. That’s the nature of a win-now trade: sometimes both teams walk away with something.
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