The New York Yankees and Texas Rangers made a trade on Saturday that sends catcher Jose Trevino to New York in exchange for pitchers Albert Abreu and Robert Ahlstrom.
The Rangers — who turned heads with additions early in the offseason — already had catching depth with Mitch Garver and Jonah Heim in place, and they add a couple of upside arms in Abreu and Ahlstrom.
For the Yankees, they get a backstop to really upgrade their catching depth- and particularly upgrade the defense.
Ben Rortvedt (oblique injury) will begin the season on the Injured list, so the championship-hopeful Yankees needed some depth to go with Kyle Higashioka.
Trevino, 29, doesn’t offer much as a hitter (.239/.267/.340 slash line in 302 plate appearances with Texas in 2021), but he’s an excellent defender. In 2021, he was valued at eight defensive runs saved (DRS), and he was valued at eight “catcher framing runs” (tied for third-best in MLB) for his outstanding skills as a pitch-framer. Additionally, Statcast has his strike rate in 2021 as the third-best mark in the majors at 51.8%.
So, Trevino is going to make the Yankees’ pitchers look better too.
The Yankees are in a loaded AL East, with four teams projected to win at least 85 games, according to FanGraphs. Every little bit of improvement to the roster could end up being very meaningful in what could be a packed race.
About Matt Clapp
Matt is an editor/writer at The Comeback and Awful Announcing.
He can be reached by email at mclapp@thecomeback.com.