Yankees named losers after 'quite underwhelming' trade deadline moves

The dust from the Major League Baseball trade deadline has settled, and the New York Yankees wound up making some subtle moves.

They didn't make a splash trade for a slugger like Yandy Diaz or bolster the starting rotation with a Jack Flaherty type ( more on why here ).

Instead, the Yankees opted to add Jazz Chisholm to the middle of the lineup — a move that has paid immediate dividends . They also added some swing-and-miss stuff to the bullpen with the acquisitions of Mark Leiter Jr. and Enyel De Los Santos.

In reviewing what teams did at the deadline, Bob Nightengale of USA Today Sports wasn't impressed. He put the Yankees in the "loser" category for not upgrading the starting rotation, calling their deadline moves "quite underwhelming" for team with World Series standards.

"They didn’t get a single starter even though their rotation is yielding a league-worst 5.95 ERA over their last 35 games," Nightengale wrote.

Adding to the starting rotation wasn't the biggest need for the Yankees but it was on the list. Gerrit Cole is dealing with "general body fatigue" after his last start, and Clarke Schmidt is working his way back from a lat strain.

But upgrading the bullpen with swing-and-miss arms and adding more protection for Aaron Judge and Juan Soto were the main priorities at the deadline.

It's a tired cliche, but the return of Giancarlo Stanton and the potential arrival of Jasson Dominguez also serve as some help after the deadline.

In hindsight, it was a seller's market, and the Yankees seemingly didn't want to overpay despite the need to end a 14-year World Series drought.

The Yankees enter Wednesday a half-game back from the Baltimore Orioles at 63-45 on a three-game winning streak eyeing a potential sweep over the Philadelphia Phillies.

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