NEW YORK — One lineup spot has quietly turned into a liability for the Yankees. They expected steady offense from behind the plate this season. Instead the Yankees have gotten one of the least productive catching groups in the sport, and the problem has followed them into the second half.
At 54-43, second in the American League East, New York does not have the luxury of waiting for the catcher to wake up. The trade deadline is Aug. 3. The clock is loud.
General manager Brian Cashman has not hidden from it. He has called the position a concern, an admission that carries weight from an executive who rarely tips his hand. The market is thin, the prices are steep, and every contender that needs a catcher is fishing in the same small pond.
That is the backdrop for a name now circulating in trade chatter, one that would count as a genuine swing rather than a patch. It is not the safe veteran rental most expected the Yankees to chase.
Why the Yankees are even here
The urgency starts with Austin Wells. Once projected as a middle-of-the-order piece, Wells has scuffled badly, hitting .155 with six home runs and 13 RBIs on the season. His defense has held up, but the bat has been among the worst in baseball for a regular.
Cashman has acknowledged the gap in unusually direct terms, framing it as a problem the front office did not see coming. His comments made clear the Yankees know the position must improve.
“It’s become an area of concern, clearly, when it wasn’t expected to be,” Cashman said. “But I know [Wells is] doing everything he can, and they are doing everything they can, to improve in that category. And I know they are capable of that. At the same time, it’s been a struggle.”
The trouble is that the two names the Yankees seem to want most are drifting out of reach. New York has made no secret of its interest in Hunter Goodman or Ryan Jeffers as their first choice.
Goodman offers rare right-handed power for a catcher, hitting .251 with 27 homers and 51 RBIs, while Jeffers has raked at a .294/.408/.540 clip with a .948 OPS in a season shortened by a hamate injury.
Both doors, though, are closing. The Rockies plan to keep Goodman, who entered the All-Star break with 27 home runs, second among National League hitters, and control through 2029. The Twins have shown no interest in moving Jeffers unless they fall out of the AL Central race, where they sit just a couple of games back.
The surprise name in the catching market
The prediction came from Trevor Plouffe, the former big leaguer turned analyst, who floated a target on the Talkin’ Baseball program that raised eyebrows across the fan base. Rather than a stopgap, Plouffe pointed the Yankees toward Arizona Diamondbacks catcher Gabriel Moreno, the 2023 National League Gold Glove winner and the first Arizona catcher ever to claim the award.
Plouffe first dismissed the more widely reported fit, then made his case for why New York has both the need and the ammunition to land a younger, controllable star.
“I just don’t think it’s (Jeffers to the Yankees) going to happen,” Plouffe said on Talkin’ Baseball. “I do think the Yankees have a ton to give up, high minor-league players ready to make the jump. This guy has control, this year plus two more. Catcher from the Snakes, Gabriel Moreno, goes to the Yankees.”
The appeal is not hard to trace. Moreno fits the contention window the Yankees are trying to protect while Aaron Judge remains in his prime. Plouffe laid out why the timeline lines up.
“I think they can go out and get this guy. They have a bit of a logjam at the top there. The Diamondbacks would want major league-ready talent, and the Yankees can give them that. This is the solution for a couple of years; this lines up with Judge and that whole window. He’d be a hell of a New York Yankee.”
Why Moreno moves the needle
The 26-year-old is doing exactly what the Yankees have lacked at the position. Moreno is hitting .301 with six home runs and 32 RBIs this season for Arizona. His right-handed bat also answers a specific need in a lineup that leaned heavily on Judge before his rib injury.
The defense is the calling card. In his Gold Glove season Moreno led all catchers with 20 defensive runs saved and posted the highest defensive WAR in the majors, throwing out roughly 39 percent of would-be base stealers. That blend of glove and contact is rare at the position.
Control sweetens it further. Moreno is signed through the 2028 season, meaning a trade would hand New York three postseason runs with the same backstop rather than a two-month rental. For a team weighing cost against payoff, that math matters.
The catch is the price. Prying a 26-year-old Gold Glove catcher with years of control from a competitive Arizona club would require a heavy return, likely built around the exact kind of MLB-ready prospects the Diamondbacks would demand. Whether the Yankees are willing to part with that talent is the open question.
A high bar and a short runway
The honest counterweight is that Arizona has little obvious reason to sell. Moreno is young, affordable and central to the Diamondbacks’ own plans, which is why even analysts who like the fit concede a deal is far from likely. Rumors are not the same as momentum.
Still, the ingredients for a match exist. Arizona would want major league-ready talent, and the Yankees have prospects close to that line. New York needs a catcher who can hit and defend, and Moreno is one of the few available names who does both.
Between now and Aug. 3, Cashman must decide how aggressive to be. A rental would steady the position. Moreno would reshape it for years. The Yankees have identified the hole and the potential fix. What they have not done yet is agree to pay for it.
What do you think? Leave your comment below.
