Rockies Relief Pitcher Drawing Interest From Yankees Ahead of MLB Trade Deadline

The Colorado Rockies and New York Yankees could come together on another trade ahead of the deadline.

Apr 7, 2025; Detroit, Michigan, USA; New York Yankees baseball hats and gloves in the dugout out in the eighth inning against the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park. / David Reginek-Imagn Images

The Colorado Rockies began the process of selling ahead of the 2025 MLB trade deadline last weekend.

They traded homegrown star third baseman Ryan McMahon to the New York Yankees in exchange for two minor league pitchers: left-hander Griffin Herring and right-hander Josh Grosz.

Trading away homegrown players isn’t something the Rockies do frequently, but they need to start overhauling the organization. So trading away a player who had legitimate value in McMahon was a necessary move.

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He is the first of what could be several players on the move. Despite having the worst record in baseball, multiple players are drawing interest from around the league.

Arguably the most popular is relief pitcher Jake Bird, who is in the midst of a career campaign and is under team control through 2028.

The asking price for a player like that, even though he is a reliever, will assuredly be high.

Given how long until he is eligible for free agency, Colorado could see him as a long-term building block to help get the franchise heading in the right direction or they could view him as a legitimate trade chip whose value will never be higher.

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If they look to cash in on that, a team to keep an eye on is the Yankees, who have recently emerged as one of the teams eyeing the right-handed reliever according to Brendan Kuty of The Athletic (subscription required).

When New York faced off against the Rockies earlier this season, several of their players came away impressed by Bird’s performance on the mound.

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He made two appearances against them, throwing 1.1 scoreless innings with one strikeout and one hit allowed to go along with one intentional walk.

Bird recorded a hold in the seventh inning of the first game in what ended up being a 3-2 Colorado victory.

On the season, his numbers have been very impressive.

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He owns a 10.5 K/9 ratio, which would be a career high, striking out 62 batters in 53.1 innings. His ERA is 4.05 but he possesses a very solid 3.09 FIP.

A contending team would benefit from adding a pitcher of this caliber to their bullpen, but it will be interesting to see what the asking price is given how many years of control the acquiring team would have.

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