NEW YORK — Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said he tried to obtain pitcher Jack Flaherty from Detroit ahead of the trade deadline, but backed away from some front-line players who were available “only if an astronomical price was met that maybe exceeded their values by a lot.”
Cashman expressed confidence in New York closer Clay Holmes and said the roles of Anthony Rizzo and Jasson Domínguez were unclear following injuries.
New York’s moves ahead of Tuesday’s trade deadline were to acquire Jazz Chisholm Jr., who has provided an injection of offense and energy, and right-handed relievers Mark Leiter Jr. and Enyel De Los Santos. The Yankees jettisoned left-hander Caleb Ferguson.
“I think we have a really good team already and it’ll get better, obviously, over the course of time when guys, certain guys come back from the IL,” Cashman said during a conference call Wednesday. “I think with the imports, too, we’ve made it better.”
New York lost 23 of 33 games before a five-game winning streak and headed home from a three-game sweep of Philadelphia with a 65-45 record, a half-game behind AL East-leading Baltimore (65-44).
Cashman confirmed he spoke with the Tigers about Flaherty, who was dealt to the Los Angeles Dodgers. He would not directly address a report by The Athletic that the Yankees backed away from a trade over medical concerns.
“I would have brought Jack Flaherty in if I could have matched up, and I had difficulty matching up and that was the reason I don’t have him,” Cashman said. “I tried to import him and I had trouble matching up on the values.”
Cashman said the number of trades at the deadline seemed to have increased since Major League Baseball expanded the playoffs from 10 teams to 12 in 2022.
“This particular deadline seemed like it was a lot higher prices,” Cashman said.
Holmes had blown five of his previous seven chances before getting the save in Wednesday’s 6-5 win. Still, his average batted ball velocity of 87.2 mph was 45th among 332 pitchers with 100 or more batted balls entering Wednesday and his 35.1% hard-hit rate was 70th. His 9.27 strikeouts per nine innings ranked 96th among 289 pitchers with 40 or more innings.
“I’m comfortable with Clay Holmes,” Cashman said. “There’s been a lot more bad luck from Clay’s perspective from the games I’m watching where balls are just getting through on the infield or obviously flares are dropping in. I think Clay is an exceptional high-end reliever, without a doubt. I think he’s one of the better ones in the game. I think he’s pitched better than ultimately the more recent results have shown.”
A slumping Rizzo broke his right forearm in a June 16 collision and was projected to be sidelined eight weeks. Ben Rice, primarily a catcher, was brought up from Triple-A to fill in at first base and had seven homers and 22 RBIs in his first 35 games. Cashman said he isn’t thinking about who will be the primary first baseman when Rizzo returns.
“Ask that question later on when whenever we’re in a position to have Anthony Rizzo healthy and what he looks like and what our roster looks like at that moment,” Cashman said. “It’s like a flowing river. It can change, unfortunately, at any moment.”
Domínguez had four homers and seven RBIs after he was brought up last September, then tore an elbow ligament and had Tommy John surgery. The 21-year-old returned to play his first minor league game on May 21, strained an oblique muscle on a June 15 checked swing and returned to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Friday.
“He’s a legitimate force when he’s healthy and the rust is knocked off,” Cashman said. “We like what we have currently and it’d be nice to know that that’s sitting there if we need it.”
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