Yankees stay busy while acquiring Anthony Rizzo from Cubs

The Yankees seem to have a certain amount of urgency this trade deadline. Yesterday, they bolstered their often injured lineup by acquiring Joey Gallo from the Rangers. If fairness, Gallo seems to be built in a lab to play in Yankee Stadium with that short porch in right, so that deal makes a ton of sense for this year as well as next.

However, it did seem unclear if the Yankees were going to do much else especially with the budget constraints that they could be up against with the luxury tax. They also sit three games back in the wild card race behind both the Rays and Athletics: both of which have reinforced their own rosters with trades in the last week or so.

Now, it appears that the Yankees are really going to make a push for a 2021 playoff push.

Now, given that Rizzo is a free agent at the end of the season, the return for him as a rental would normally be very limited. However, the Yankees are also watching their payroll closely, so the Cubs are covering the rest of this salary this season in order to get a better return which includes two of the Yankees’ top 12 prospects according to MLB Pipeline. Alcantara was one of the higher ceiling IFA signees from the 2018 IFA class and Vizcaino is a raw pitching prospect, but when he is on, he possesses a devastating fastball/changeup combo.

While the Yankees seem to be close to their limit of acquisitions, the Cubs may just be getting started. Kris Bryant and Craig Kimbrel are likely to have new teams soon and it isn’t a wild stretch to see them entertaining the idea of moving on from Javier Baez, either.