The New York Yankees’ bullpen is reeling from a brutal blow just before the 2025 Opening Day, with their World Series dreams hanging by a thread. After back-to-back stumbles in their quest for the title, the team is scrambling to shore up their pitching roster through trades.
Kicking off the season without ace Gerrit Cole—who’s sidelined until at least 2026 after Tommy John surgery—has left the Yankees’ defense in a tailspin. With Clarke Schmidt and Luis Gil also stuck on the injured list, April’s outlook is looking grim, and fans are sweating bullets.
FanSided’s Christopher Kline recently tossed out a juicy trade idea: snag San Diego Padres’ star Dylan Cease in a blockbuster deal (via Newsweek). “If the Padres cut their losses and put Cease up for grabs—and trust me, they won’t have the cash to keep him as a free agent—the Yankees are the perfect match,” Kline argued. “Sure, paying Cole, Fried, and Cease would sting, but it’s a no-brainer for a shot at the World Series. The 29-year-old brings heat, racks up strikeouts, and has stayed rock-solid lately.”
GM Brian Cashman and the front office are ready to dig through their options to dodge this disaster, though he’s keeping it real about the odds of a fast fix. “We’ll see what’s out there, but this early in the year, pickings are slim,” Cashman admitted on March 11, post-Cole injury bombshell (per MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch).
“The big moves usually don’t pop off until the Trade Deadline. You just pray you can dodge the injury bug from Spring Training through the Draft—going outside the org is a tough ask. For now, we’ll lean on what we’ve got and poke around the market’s scraps.”
Cease, set to hit free agency after this season, is eyeing a fat paycheck—think five years, $108.8M, according to Spotrac. The 29-year-old pitcher, who landed in San Diego from the Chicago White Sox in March 2024, posted 14 wins in 33 starts last year. Slotting him in with Carlos Rodon, Max Fried, Marcus Stroman, Will Warren, and Carlos Carrasco could turn the Yankees’ rotation into a powerhouse.
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