The Yankees may be circling Mason Miller, but the price tag is already looking steep.
With the trade deadline one week away, the Padres still haven’t made their direction clear. Their weekend sweep of the Miami Marlins gave them a little breathing room, but there’s still plenty of work to do if they want to stay in the postseason picture. That uncertainty has kept Miller’s name in the mix, even though some around the league believe San Diego would need to be overwhelmed to move him.
New York keeps coming up as a possible fit, and for good reason: the Yankees have the kind of prospect depth that could at least get San Diego’s attention. Sherman reported that Padres scouts were at "literally at every level" this past weekend watching the team, a sign that the organization is taking a close look at the system.
One name that appears to interest San Diego is Dax Kilby, the Yankees’ 2025 first-round pick who plays shortstop and has just been promoted to Low-A. But George Lombard Jr. is not being shopped right now, which means any real framework would have to be built without him.
So what would it take? One executive offered Randy Miller of NJ.com a possible starting point: “I do think that it just comes down to a package with Kilby, Lagrange and maybe Rodriguez, too,” the executive said.
“Does that at least start it for the Yankees? I don’t know.”
That uncertainty says plenty. Mason Miller isn’t just another bullpen arm - he’s the best closer in baseball and one of the most dominant pitchers in the game right now. He also has three more years left on his deal after this season, which only raises the cost for any team trying to pry him loose.
And that’s the catch for the Yankees. They may have the pieces to make a run at Miller, but the deal would be massive, and nothing about it sounds simple. San Diego would have to be convinced to part with a pitcher it just traded a top prospect to acquire one year ago, and that kind of move won’t come cheap.
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