Yankees add another bat, snag OF Heliot Ramos from Giants

The New York Yankees don’t have a catcher yet, but they do have more help against lefties with Heliot Ramos now in the fold.

Ken Rosenthal at The Athletic first reported the Yankees and Giants working on a deal for Ramos, with multiple sources adding the return. Lefty pitching prospect Henry Lalane (No. 5) and infield prospect Kaeden Kent (No. 13) will be headed to San Francisco. It’s something of a homecoming for Kent, whose father Jeff is a Hall of Fame second baseman who played six years and won an MVP with the Giants.

Ramos, meanwhile, is expected to be a strong platoon bat versus lefties as the Yankees continue to seek catching help. He is under team control through 2030 and slugged 43 home runs over the last two seasons. Ramos is currently batting .264 with nine homers and an even wRC+ of 100. Exactly league average.

The splits, however, tell the real story. Ramos is batting .292 with an .847 OPS and has hit .279 against lefties for his career. His outfield glove is best in the corners and alternates between average and below average.

The Giants, meanwhile, also got some intriguing talent. Kent was a third-round pick last year and a .274 career hitter at High-A Hudson Valley. The lefty swinger was batting .302 with six homers this season and grades out as an eventual second baseman.

Lalane, on the other hand, is someone Yankees Twitter will miss. The 22-year-old lefty got his velocity up into the mid-90s this season, sometimes as high as 98. He has a 2.77 ERA and 11.3 K/9 across two levels of A-ball and also throws a changeup and sweeper.

Yankees fans won’t like this trade deadline. Luis Garcia Jr. and Heliot Ramos are Brian Cashman’s only moves. Right-handed catching and bullpen help must have cost an arm and a leg. Meanwhile, Jasson Dominguez’s frustrating bat remains on the roster along with Austin Wells’ vanishing bat, plus Ali Sanchez’s mental mistakes and weak glove.

But the team needs runs with Aaron Judge continuing to sit on the IL alongside Cody Bellinger and Giancarlo Stanton. In fact, Stanton’s future in New York looks even murkier despite taking live BP off of Carlos Rodon today.

Some will view this deadline as a complete failure given the Yankees’ needs. No right-handed catching, no bullpen help, and Adley Rutschman now on the rival Boston Red Sox. Heliot Ramos is far from a blockbuster addition by comparison.

Still, this is the deadline the team got. Let’s see how they work with it.