MLB Trade Rumors: Yankees Looking for a Catcher, Plus a Pirates-White Sox Trade

What’s Going On in Baseball Right Now?

Major League Baseball (MLB) is the big top league of baseball. Here’s the simple scoop:

• There is a special day called the trade deadline on August 3. This is the last day teams can swap players, like trading lunchbox toys.
• Right now, it’s still a few weeks away, but teams are already making plans.
• The standings (the list of who is winning and losing) are a big jumbled mess—no one is neatly sorted.
• Some teams want to win big (called contenders) and some might sell their good players to others (likely sellers).
• Because of this, trade rumors (gossip about who might be traded) are starting to trickle in, especially now that we’re well into July.
• On Saturday, more rumors popped up, and we’ll explain them below in a super simple way.

Important: The trade deadline is a fixed date. After August 3, teams mostly can’t trade players until next season.

Yankees Scouting Twins Catcher

The New York Yankees are a famous team, and they really need help at one spot: catcher. The catcher is the player who squats behind the batter to catch the pitches (throws) from the pitcher.

Why the Yankees Need a New Catcher

• Usually, teams don’t like to change their catcher in the middle of the season because it’s such a crucial position, but the Yankees are pretty desperate.
• Their current catchers (mostly a player named Tyler Wells) have been very bad at hitting.
• Their hitting numbers are .175/.252/.272 (these are batting stats where higher is better). In kid words: they hardly ever get a hit, rarely reach base, and almost never hit for power. That’s a huge problem.

What the Yankees Did on Friday

1. They sent a scout (a person who watches players to see if they’re good) to the Angels-Twins game on Friday night.
2. The scout was there to watch Ryan Jeffers, the catcher for the Minnesota Twins.
3. Jeffers was coming back from an injury to a small hand bone (called the hamate bone) that kept him out since May 18.
4. In that game, Jeffers got 1 hit in 4 turns at bat, and it was a double (a hit that lets him run to second base).

This info comes from reporter LaVelle E. Neal III.

How Good Is Ryan Jeffers?

• The 29-year-old Jeffers this season, in 38 games, has hit .294/.408/.540 with 7 home runs (balls hit out of the park).
• He has more walks (not swinging at bad pitches and getting to first base) than strikeouts (missing the ball). That means he’s patient and smart.
• Over his career (parts of seven years), his OPS+ (a score where 100 is average) is 109, so he’s a bit better than average at hitting.
• He might become a free agent after this season—that means he could choose to play for any team next year.

Would the Twins Trade Him?

• Maybe not! The Twins are doing well: they are only 3 games behind first place in their group (AL Central) and just 1 game away from a backup playoff spot (the third AL wild card).
• But Jeffers would definitely help the Yankees.
• Another team, the Tampa Bay Rays, also sent someone to watch Jeffers on Friday (reported by Darren Wolfson).

Important: The Twins might keep Jeffers because they are still close to winning, even though the Yankees (and Rays) like him.

Pirates and White Sox Make a Trade With Draft Implications

On Friday evening, the Pittsburgh Pirates and Chicago White Sox made a trade. A trade is when teams exchange players and sometimes draft picks (the right to pick new young players).

The Trade in Simple Terms

• Pirates received: Jacob Gonzalez (a backup infielder—someone who plays on the dirt near the bases) and Brandon Eisert (a left-handed relief pitcher—a thrower who comes in later to help).
• White Sox received: The 34th overall pick in Saturday’s MLB Draft (a chance to choose a talented kid) and Jaden Woods (a young reliever in the minor leagues, which is below the big league).

This trade was reported by ESPN’s Jeff Passan.

Meet the Players

• Jacob Gonzalez: He is 24 years old, a rookie (first year in big leagues), and was picked 15th overall in 2023. He is expected to play shortstop (a position between second and third base) regularly because the Pirates’ amazing young player Konnor Griffin has a thumb injury.
• Brandon Eisert: He is 28. His ERA+ (a pitcher rating where 100 is average) is 88, meaning a bit below average, and his FIP (a number that shows how well a pitcher throws ignoring his teammates’ mistakes) is 4.52 over parts of three MLB seasons.
• Jaden Woods: He is 24. In the minor leagues, he has a 4.61 ERA (earned run average—lower is better) with 218 strikeouts (making batters miss) in 173 and 2/3 innings across parts of four seasons. He reached triple-A (the level just before the big leagues) this year.

About That Draft Pick

• MLB rules allow trading of special picks called competitive-balance picks.
• The White Sox get the No. 34 pick and some extra money (bonus pool space) to sign new players.
• Now the White Sox have the 1st, 34th, and 41st picks on Saturday’s draft.

Important: Not all draft picks can be traded—only special competitive-balance ones. The White Sox got a very early pick (No. 34) plus the No. 1 and 41!

Summary

Let’s recap what we learned:

• MLB’s trade deadline is August 3, and teams are already making moves and rumors while standings are messy.
• The Yankees are desperately looking for a catcher and watched Ryan Jeffers of the Twins, but the Twins might not trade him because they’re still in the race.
• The Pirates and White Sox swapped players and a draft pick, with the White Sox gaining a high draft choice (No. 34) and bonus money.
• All this happened on a July Friday/Saturday as the deadline approaches.

FAQ

Q1: What is a trade deadline in baseball?
A: It’s like a last-call bell on August 3. Teams must finish trading players before that day. After it passes, they can’t trade until next season (with tiny exceptions).

Q2: Why is the catcher position so important?
A: The catcher catches the ball from the pitcher, stops runners, and also needs to hit the ball to help score. If they can’t hit, the team loses points.

Q3: What does "free agency" mean for a player?
A: It means the player’s contract ended, and they are free to sign with any team—like graduating and picking your own job.

Q4: What is a competitive-balance draft pick?
A: It’s a special pick given to smaller-market teams to help them get young talent. MLB lets teams trade these specific picks, unlike most others.

Q5: What do numbers like .294/.408/.540 mean?
A: Those are batting stats: first is batting average (how often they hit), second is on-base percentage (how often they reach base), third is slugging (how many bases they get per hit). Higher is better!