Potential Mason Miller Trade Is Absolutely Worth the Yankees' Time and Effort

Any sacrifice would be worth it for what the two-time MLB All-Star could bring to New York's bullpen.

Padres closer Mason Miller would give the Yankees' bullpen the boost it needs to remain a World Series threat. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Mason Miller is at the top of the closer food chain. The Padres' best arm would upgrade the bullpen for any team in baseball, and this is a league that features the likes of Jhoan Duran, Aroldis Chapman, and Louis Varland. This is why it shouldn't be a surprise that the Yankees have him at the top of their trade board right now.

"The Yankees love the idea of adding Mason Miller, who would not only give them baseball's best closer and back-end combination (with closer David Bednar as the setup man), but also a closer for 2027," the New York Post's Jon Heyman reported on Tuesday.

For as productive as Bednar has been, even he would fall behind Miller on the reliever depth chart. This is with the knowledge that he changed the course of his season after that catastrophic three-run blast at Citi Field in May. It was Bednar's lowest point of the season as he watched Tyrone Taylor, who owns an 84 wRC+ since 2022, send one into the Citi Field seats off him.

⚾Tyrone Taylor, @tyrone_taylor15! HR (3)
It's outta here! 🍎

5/17/26 @ NYM, ⬇️ 9th
vs RHP David Bednar

104.2 MPH / 33° / 404 ft to LF
Off a 79.5 MPH curveball

▶️It's a home run in 30/30 parks.◀️ pic.twitter.com/f4aRLM60MS

— Home Run Report (@homerunreport) May 17, 2026

Thankfully, Bednar is back. He and Miller would be the best 1-2 punch in the eighth and ninth innings that a team could have. Any game would effectively be over after the seventh if the Yankees get it to that point with a lead.

In 38 outings with the Padres so far, Miller has pitched to an absurd 0.91 ERA while pacing the National League in saves (25) and games finished (34). His 0.782 WHIP and 16.3 strikeouts per nine innings are both career-best marks, all while limiting opposing batters to a .126 expected batting average and .181 expected weighted on-base average, per Baseball Savant.

A Bednar-Miller pair would probably be the best late-game tandem heading into a postseason, since Andrew Miller and Cody Allen during the Guardians' 2016 World Series run. In other words, the Yankees' front office has every reason to pursue a trade before the deadline on Monday, Aug. 3—even if it takes some sacrifices.

Price tag for a Mason Miller trade

While Tarik Skubal would be a rental, Miller comes with years of control, making whatever price tag the Padres would command worth it. He won't hit free agency until 2030. He's so young in the league that he wouldn't even be arbitration-eligible until 2027.

If it means the Yankees dole out their top three prospects in the organization, which are George Lombard Jr., Carlos Lagrange, Elmer Rodríguez, plus one of Will Warren or Ryan Weathers, that might still be a bargain. It's a steep price tag, but Maseratis don't come cheap.

The Yankees would likely need to move George Lombard Jr. as part of a potential Mason Miller trade. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Look at what the Padres did to get Miller last year. Their package was led off by Leo de Vries, who was ranked third overall in MLB by Pipeline. With him went other top Padres prospects in Braden Nett (their ninth-ranked prospect), Henry Baez (their twelfth-ranked prospect) and Eduarniel Núñez.

This is on top of the 11 other prospects the Padres dealt in general last deadline. They would probably be looking to stockpile their farm system, making that price tag potentially even more costly for the Yankees.

This is a closer who ranks in the 100th percentile for expected batting average, expected ERA, fastball velocity, whiff rate, strikeout rate, and hard-hit rate. Any fee will be uncomfortable for Yankees general manager Brian Cashman.

Waiting for the Padres to be sellers

Unfortunately for the Padres, while Miller has held up his end of the bargain, the rest of the team has not. A star-filled San Diego cast has wildly underperformed.

The Padres are 48-48 and are 12.5 games out of first place in the National League West. The next few weeks can paint a picture of whether they would be ready to sell, seeing as they sit just 3.5 out of the Wild Card standings.

If the Padres continue to fall out of it by the time the deadline rolls around, the Yankees should absolutely pounce. Relievers like Miller don't grow on trees. Cashman & Co. need to look at how much their own closers have fallen short since Mariano Rivera retired, hopefully convincing them to make a trade that would bring them one step closer to ending their championship drought.