Proposed New York Yankees Trade With St. Louis Cardinals Would Fix Offseason Mistake

The New York Yankees could dip into the trade market for another closer option.

Mar 27, 2025; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; St. Louis Cardinals relief pitcher Ryan Helsley (56) pitches against the Minnesota Twins during the ninth inning at Busch Stadium. | Jeff Curry-Imagn Images

The New York Yankees traded for a new closer this offseason and have already taken him out of the role, so dipping into the trade market for another option might not be too bad of an idea.

Devin Williams has an extremely uncharacteristic 10.00 ERA through his first 11 outings this year. The highest ERA he's ever finished a full campaign with has been 2.50.

While it would not be a shock to see Williams become an elite closer again at some point this season, adding another arm to a bullpen is rarely a bad idea.

Luckily for the Yankees, the closer market around this trade deadline is expected to be vast.

Potentially the best arm available will be that of St. Louis Cardinals closer Ryan Helsley, who could either close out games for New York instead of Williams or act as an incredible setup man who could be deployed in high-leverage situations.

Helsey broke out as an All-Star in 2022 and has had a 1.92 ERA since the start of that campaign.

The Cardinals are in the midst of a rebuild and should look to sell off their veterans for prospects. Helsley is set to become a free agent after this season, which makes him a prime candidate to be traded.

It has been a solid campaign for the 30-year-old. His ERA is up to 3.60 after giving up two runs in his last outing, but overall he has been fine.

Helsley's stuff looks good and he is still one of the hardest-throwing pitchers in baseball, so he should be solid for the rest of the season.

The real question would be how much New York would have to give up to get him.

The outline for this type of trade seems to be three-to-four Top-30 prospects from different levels of the farm since that's what it took for the San Diego Padres to land Tanner Scott last year, even if they got another pitcher in that deal.

A Yankees trade offer for Helsley could look like this; No. 8 prospect LHP Brock Selvidge, No. 19 prospect INF Jorbit Vivas and No. 28 prospect RHP Greysen Carter.

This is a competitive trade offer with three top-30 prospects who could all make the St. Louis roster in the next couple of years.

It might seem like overkill for New York to add another arm to a bullpen that has been good overall, but they look like they can compete for a World Series with this roster.

They might as well go all out to build the best roster possible for this postseason.