Yankees' Ryan Jeffers trade plans made crystal clear

Yankees’ Ryan Jeffers trade plans made crystal clear originally appeared on The Sporting News.
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It’s not exactly sneaking up on anyone that the New York Yankees want to trade for Minnesota Twins catcher Ryan Jeffers.

“The Yankees are making it no secret they want Minnesota Twins catcher Ryan Jeffers at the trade deadline,” USA Today’s Bob Nightengale wrote in a new column on Sunday.

It’s not necessarily a need the Yanks planned on having at the start of the season. Everything looked pretty solid with Austin Wells, J.C. Escarra and even potentially Ben Rice able to get behind the plate.

Yeah, those guys are all left-handed hitters, so that was the one potential flaw. The Yankees couldn’t have imagined the struggles at the plate of both Wells and Escarra, though.

Not only would it help the Yankees to have a right-handed hitter as a catcher. It would also simply help to have someone who can actually hit a little bit doing those duties.

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Jeffers was actually having a bit of a career year before getting hurt, but as long as he can prove at some point that he’s healthy, he certainly is someone New York should take a chance on.

Minnesota is surely open to trading him, given both their struggles and the fact that he’s in the final year of his contract.

The catcher trade market will be interesting, because there aren’t a ton of players available, but there also may not be too many teams that actually want a catcher in a deal before the deadline.

The Yankees would certainly be better served in their own interests if they didn’t have to get into a massive bidding war for Jeffers. Either way, though, he certainly looks like a player that the Yanks need to get in pinstripes before the trade deadline arrives.

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