The Yankees Should Give the Pirates What They Want

The Pittsburgh Pirates have interest in a reliever that the New York Yankees are clearly avoiding.

New York Yankees general manager Brian Cashman talks with the media before the game between the Yankees and the Washington Nationals at Yankee Stadium. | USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Connect

Camilo Doval has fallen so far off the trust tree that even in the second doubleheader of the week, where manager Aaron Boone was struggling to piece together innings, he still didn't go to him. The last time he even got into a game was in that first game of the doubleheader against the Los Angeles Dodgers, where the New York Yankees were down 7-1, and the game was entirely out of reach.

There may be an opportunity to cleanly offload Doval here during the trade deadline, though, because one team has interest in him. According to the New York Post's Joel Sherman, that team is the Pittsburgh Pirates. Considering that the Yankees have gone a full calendar week without using him, offloading Doval wouldn't matter much anyway. It feels like they're already preparing for a world without him.

After Saturday's win against the Philadelphia Phillies, Boone was asked about Doval. He, of course, offered little answers to Pittsburgh's inquiry, and wants his beleaguered reliever to find himself back into high-leverage situations.

"I'm hoping he works his way back into a significant role," Boone said, according to the Post's Dan Martin. "We cast off people all the time during a long major league season, and the reality is, things change, and they can change in a hurry sometimes."

New York Yankees pitcher Camilo Doval (75) reacts after walking Minnesota Twins right fielder Austin Martin (not pictured) with the bases loaded during the sixth inning at Yankee Stadium. M | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Funny enough, if anybody has the power to toss Doval into those late-game moments, it's Boone himself. He is in charge of the righty's Odyssey here. It's clear that this was just a case of deflection, and, right now, they may even be protecting one of last year's big deadline acquisitions from further hampering his own trade value by keeping him off the mound.

Doval has intriguing stuff

You do see why a team would be interested in Doval. His 4.86 ERA is ugly, but it's hard to find anybody with better stuff in the league than what he's working with. In fact, if he weren't a Yankee, he would likely be on Brian Cashman's radar based on what he can do.

Doval's average fastball velocity is 98.6 MPH. That's in the 96th percentile in all of baseball. Few cutters have the movement that his 98.8 MPH cutters do, and yet, somehow, every time Doval enters a game, it does seem like he's hemorrhaging runs.

If the Pirates want to deal with the Yankees, one player of interest Cashman could have is the switch-hitting outfielder Jake Magnum. They have been looking for an outfielder, and while Magnum isn't going to wow anybody, he's a solid bench piece who can come in late in games. This season, he's hitting .304/.352/.373 in 284 plate appearances. It may not be a clean swap, and the Yankees may have to throw in one more piece to get that done, but that's one feasible option there. Unfortunately, it won't be Paul Skenes.

Plus, in the case of the Pirates, it's not a bad idea to take a flier on him. The Pirates have a 4.50 bullpen ERA. That's 24th in baseball, and the only teams worse than them have no shot of making the postseason. This can be an opportunity to potentially fix Doval and have him return to the glory days where he was closing out games for the San Francisco Giants and making All-Star Games.

If that's what happens with the Yankees, they likely won't lose much sleep over it. They'll find a new toy to tinker with the way they have with Brent Headrick and Luke Weaver before him. They'll become what they hoped Doval would.