The New York Yankees have bolstered their bullpen by acquiring right-handed reliever Mark Leiter Jr. from the Chicago Cubs. The deal, announced Tuesday, sees the Yankees sending Double-A shortstop Ben Cowles and Triple-A reliever Jack Neely to the Cubs.
Mark Leiter Jr. joins Yankees
Leiter, 33, will don the traditional Yankees uniform, following in the footsteps of his father, who pitched for the team in 1990, and his uncle Al, who began his 19-year major league career with the Yankees in the late 1980s.
In their search for a swing-and-miss specialist, the Yankees identified Leiter as a top performer in 2024. While his sinker averages 91.3 mph, Leiter’s splitter has been a standout pitch this season. Batters have a .053 average against it, with Leiter recording 39 strikeouts and a 62.7% whiff rate, allowing no extra-base hits.
Leiter ranks in the 98th percentile with a 36.7% whiff rate and has a 34.9% strikeout rate, tied for 12th among major league relievers with at least 30 innings pitched. Despite a 4.21 ERA over 39 appearances, his 2.11 FIP and 2.61 ERA suggest his higher ERA is due to bad luck, indicated by his .301 BABIP.
Since returning from the injured list on July 9 following a forearm strain, Leiter has posted 7⅔ scoreless innings with 14 strikeouts and zero walks over seven games. This improvement is a boost to a Yankees bullpen that ranks 22nd in ERA since June 1. All-Star closer Clay Holmes has particularly struggled, with a 6.08 ERA and runs allowed in six of his last 13 outings since June 13.
In exchange for Leiter, the Yankees parted with two promising prospects. Cowles, 24, was batting .295 with nine home runs and an .848 OPS for Double-A Somerset before being placed on the seven-day injured list. He was a 10th-round pick from Maryland in the 2021 draft. Neely, also 24, was selected in the 11th round of the same draft. The 6-foot-8 right-hander has a 2.81 ERA across 31 relief appearances between Double-A Somerset and Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, striking out 14.8 batters per nine innings.
Both players will need to be added to the Cubs’ 40-man roster this offseason to protect them from the Rule 5 draft.
This trade follows the Yankees’ recent acquisition of infielder/outfielder Jazz Chisholm Jr. from the Miami Marlins in exchange for three prospects. Additionally, on Tuesday, the Yankees traded reliever Caleb Ferguson to the Houston Astros. Ferguson had a 5.13 ERA in 42 appearances this season.
The Yankees hope that Leiter’s recent form will provide a much-needed boost to their bullpen as they push towards the playoffs.
What do you think? Leave your comment below.
This trade makes sense in that the Yankees would have to add both players to their 40-man roster this offseason to protect from losing them in the Rule 5 draft. It seems unlikely that both would have been added to the 40-man, so trading them was a logical gamble for immediate MLB help.
The trade is still a gamble, though, because it’s not a sure thing that Leiter will be as effective pitching in the much tougher AL East.
Leiter has “good bloodlines” in his dad & uncle, but any Yankee fan who saw Yogi’s son, Dale Berra, play for the Yankees (and hit .229 & .231 for them) knows how meaningless “good bloodlines” are. (A lifetime .236 hitter, Dale managed to play 10+ years in the majors, which is no small feat.)
The transaction that made me grin was the trade of God Awful reliever Caleb Ferguson & his hideous 5.13 ERA to the Houston Astros.
Ferguson is one of those crap “veterans” that Cashman & Boone love giving Multiple Chances to Suck, but send down a Young reliever with real potential, like Ron Marinaccio, if he has 1 or 2 less than stellar performances.
If you think I’m exaggerating, Marinaccio’s ERA in 19 Games with the Yankees in 2024 is 2.84! So, Marinaccio’s ERA is 2.29 points BETTER THAN Ferguson’s crap 5.13 ERA. Yet, Cashman & Boone allowed Ferguson to Suck, more often than not, in 42 appearances.
Marinaccio pitches to a 2.84 ERA in 19 appearances & get sent down to AAA, yet . . .
Ferguson is allowed to pitch to a 5.13 ERA in 42 appearances!
WTF do Cashman & Boone have for brains?