INSURANCE POLICY
Yanks acquire pitcher Jaime Garcia; drop series finale to Rays
The Yankees made a move to bolster their rotation.
It just wasn’t the name everyone was expecting.
The Yankees acquired left-handed pitcher Jaime Garcia from the Minnesota Twins in exchange for pitching prospects Zack Littell and Dietrich Enns.
Garcia made just one start for the Twins after they picked him up in a trade with Atlanta on July 24. Garcia beat the Athletics in his lone start for Minnesota, allowing three runs on eight hits and striking out seven in 6.2 innings. The 31-year-old spent eight seasons with the St. Louis Cardinals before they shipped him to the Braves in the offseason. He went 4-7 with a 4.30 ERA in 18 starts for Atlanta prior to his one appearance for Minnesota.
In return, the Yankees are giving up their No. 22 ranked prospect, according to MLB Pipeline. Littell was scratched from his scheduled start for the Thunder on Saturday night in Altoona.
Littell is 5-0 with a 2.05 ERA in seven starts for the Thunder. The 6-foot4, 220-pound righty has 52 strikeouts against eight walks in 44 innings.
Originally selected by the Seattle Mariners in the 11th round of the 2013 draft as a 17-year-old, Littell was acquired in November by the Yankees in a deal that sent James Pazos the other way. Littell, now 21, is in the midst of a breakout campaign which began with High-A Tampa. He’s 14-1 with a 1.87 ERA, 109 strikeouts and 1.08 WHIP in 20 appearances (18 starts).
Enns, 26, began the season on the disabled list, but has returned to make seven starts for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre where he went 1-1 with a 2.29 ERA. Enns, a southpaw out of Central Michigan, put himself on the map last season when he posted a combined 14-4 record with a 1.73 ERA in 26 appearances (22 starts) for the Thunder and Railriders.
The Yankees have been heavily linked to A’s starter Sonny Gray for the last week and a half, but haven’t yet reached an agreement.
Oakland, which pushed Gray’s scheduled start on Sunday back until after the trade deadline, reportedly asked for outfielder Clint Frazier or top prospect Gleyber Torres. The Yankees, however, balked at the offer, although the two sides could still get a deal done prior to Monday’s trade deadline, according to baseball insiders.
The A’s seem to like 19-year-old outfielder Estevan Florial, the organization’s No. 5 ranked prospect playing with Single-A Charleston, and have also expressed interest in Jorge Mateo and Domingo Acevedo — both top 10 prospects with the Thunder.