NEW YORK — One of the Yankees’ worst moves from last summer might finally have a way out. The exit comes with a catch, and it may cost the club to use it.
As the Aug. 3 deadline nears, the Yankees are focused on buying. They want a catcher, a right-handed bat and bullpen help. Almost every rumor has cast them as a team looking to add, not subtract.
One name flips that script. A struggling arm in the Yankees bullpen has drawn outside interest, and it opens the door to a rare sell-side move for a contender.
The interest is real, but it is not clean. A deal would only work if the Yankees are willing to do something they usually resist. That willingness is the whole story.
The pitcher at the center of it has become an afterthought in his own bullpen.
Pirates check in, but the Yankees would have to eat money
The reliever is Camilo Doval, and the interested team is the Pittsburgh Pirates. According to Joel Sherman of the New York Post, Pittsburgh has shown some interest in Doval, but the Yankees would likely have to absorb part of his salary to get a deal done.
That condition is the sticking point. The Pirates are trying to upgrade their roster without raising payroll, which they have already pushed from about $87 million last year to $102 million this year. Eating money runs counter to how Pittsburgh wants to operate.
The Yankees face their own tension in the math. If they retain salary to move Doval, they would expect a better return in exchange. That leaves two sides circling the same player with different priorities.
It is an unusual position for a Yankees team that plans to be among the most aggressive buyers at the deadline. Selling a reliever, even a disappointing one, is not the headline anyone expected from the Bronx this week.
Boone is not ready to give up on Doval
There is a complication the outside interest cannot resolve. The Yankees have not decided they want to move Doval at all. Manager Aaron Boone made that clear before Saturday’s 3-1 win over the Phillies, saying he still hopes the right-hander turns his season around.
“I’m hoping he works his way back into a significant role,” Boone said. “We cast off people all the time during a long major league season and the reality is, things change and they can change in a hurry sometimes.”
Boone leaned on Doval’s raw ability to explain the patience. The velocity and the strikeout history still tempt a team that has watched him unravel for a year.
“Guys as talented as Camilo, there are stories every year of guys flipping the script over the course of a year,” Boone said. “We hope to do that with Camilo.”
The Yankees have tried to protect him, spotting him in lower-pressure situations in hopes that a few clean outings snowball into something more. So far, it has not worked.
A year of struggles has buried Doval in the pecking order
The numbers explain why a contender would even consider selling. Doval owns a 4.86 ERA with a 1.41 WHIP and 35 strikeouts over 37 innings in 41 games this season. His walk rate sits in the bottom half of the league, and his swing-and-miss has slipped from his peak years.
The drop is sharp compared with his time in San Francisco. Doval’s WHIP has jumped from 1.261 across four-plus seasons with the Giants to 1.473 as a Yankee. He has allowed more baserunners, surrendered more homers and missed fewer bats since the move.
He has fallen behind nearly everyone in the Yankees bullpen. David Bednar and Fernando Cruz handle the big spots, lefties Tim Hill and Brent Headrick have carved out roles, and even Paul Blackburn and rookie Angel Chivilli have passed him. Doval has not recorded a meaningful out in a win in more than a month.
There is still a case for a buy-low bet. Doval throws triple digits with a sinker and cutter, led the National League with 39 saves in 2023 and carried a sub-3.30 ERA across his Giants career. His peripheral numbers this year hint at worse luck than results. He is also controllable through 2027, giving a new team time to fix him.
A deadline decision that cuts against the plan
For now, nothing is close. The Yankees are far more focused on adding relievers than subtracting one, and any Doval return would likely be modest, a low-level prospect at best. The interest exists, but so does the club’s lingering hope.
The condition is what keeps it interesting. Pittsburgh wants the arm without the cost, and New York wants value without giving him away. Those goals can meet only if one side blinks before Aug. 3.
The Yankees enter the final week at 59-45, second in the American League East and about two games behind the Tampa Bay Rays. Their bullpen still needs reinforcement, which is the very reason Doval’s spot has come into question.
Whether he stays or goes may come down to money. The Yankees have a week to decide if eating salary to move a former All-Star is worth clearing the roster spot, or if they would rather keep betting on the talent that made them trade for him in the first place.
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