The Pirates are clearly trying to stay out ahead of the market (after their sell-off of the last couple years, which, hey, that was WAY out ahead of the market!), and they’ve just traded one of their tradable relievers to the Yankees.
I say “tradable” rather than “good,” because Clay Holmes has been 22% worse than league average by ERA this year, and his FIP has been about league average. Sure he’s cheap, but I’m kinda shocked he netted the Pirates TWO interesting flyer guys:
The @Yankees announced today that they have acquired RHP Clay Holmes from the Pittsburgh Pirates in exchange for INF Diego Castillo and INF Hoy Park.
To make room on the 40-man roster, the Yankees returned replacement player C Rob Brantly to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
— Yankees PR Dept. (@YankeesPR) July 26, 2021
Park, a utility type who can play all over, is already 25 and the scouting industry wasn’t buying him before this season, but he absolutely obliterated Triple-A this year (.327/.475/.567, 177 wRC+). Castillo is a 23-year-old middle infielder at Double-A, and he’s also hitting very well (.277/.345/.504, 127 wRC+). I don’t know these guys from Adam, but for a not-so-successful reliever? That seems like an eye-popping return.
Holmes, 28, is controllable for a few more years through arbitration, which does have value. But again, he hasn’t actually been good yet in the big leagues. It makes me wonder just how strong the market might be for guys like Andrew Chafin and Ryan Tepera, who are not controllable, but who have been dominant.