Yankees trade rumors: Could Byron Buxton emerge as outside-the-box fit?

PHILADELPHIA — The Yankees have scored a combined six runs in their last three games and have won them all, counting Saturday night’s 3-1 victory at Citizens Bank Park.

They’ve now scored three or fewer runs in six of their last seven and 19 of their last 32.

This is now considered a prolonged slump by a ballclub that was scoring more runs than any other team until Aaron Judge hit the injured list. The captain hasn’t played since May 31 and probably won’t return until September. The Yankees are counting on his return, but he must fully recover first — and that hasn’t happened yet.

Giancarlo Stanton has been sidelined since late April with a calf strain that was diagnosed as low grade. Even though he’s running again after a setback last month, he’s still not running the bases. There’s no timetable for a return.

Without Judge and Stanton, the Yankees don’t have much right-handed pop in their lineup. There’s Paul Goldschmidt, and that’s about it.

Besides all that, the Yankees have a big new concern. All-Star left fielder Cody Bellinger left Saturday’s game in the eighth inning with a hamstring injury that may or may not turn into an IL stint.

Even before Bellinger got hurt, adding an outfield bat was reportedly on general manager Brian Cashman’s agenda with the Aug. 3 trade deadline just a week away.

What’s cooking?

Nothing so far. The biggest rumor involves Cashman trying to acquire Mason Miller from the Padres to dramatically improve a bullpen that already has an MLB-best 3.01 ERA.

The Yankees badly want the best closer in baseball.

When manager Aaron Boone was asked Saturday what his recent trade-deadline talks with Cashman have been like, he responded, “All’s quiet on the western front right now. I think it’s probably just league-wide, kind of that calm before the storms.”

It’s been calm because few teams have committed to selling, with 22 of 30 teams either holding a playoff spot or being within 3 1/2 games of a wild card heading into Sunday.

The Yankees’ biggest need is a right-handed-hitting catcher to replace backup catcher Ali Sanchez. They’re hoping to address that by working a trade with the Twins for Ryan Jeffers, who is a .282 hitter with nine homers in 45 games and will be a free agent after the season.

There has been speculation that the Yankees will cast a line for an All-Star catcher before closing a deal for Jeffers — Hunter Goodman. He has three seasons of control after 2026.

The Yankees would instantly transform from having the least productive catchers to among the best if Cashman pulled off a trade.

If the Yankees settle for Jeffers to platoon with Austin Wells, whose miserable hitting season has finally shown signs of life, then maybe Cashman will take a big swing at making a blockbuster deal with the Twins.

How much better would the Yankees’ lineup be with Byron Buxton playing center field? He’s been an All-Star two years in a row and three times in the last four. He’s got big-time right-handed power. He’s under contract through 2028 at $15.1 million a year. He’s also won a Gold Glove.

Buxton would be an upgrade over Yankees center fielder Trent Grisham. Buxton is batting .269 with 25 homers and an .883 OPS in 80 games.

Grisham had a career year in 2025, belting 34 homers, but he has 11 in 84 games this season. Also, his batting average has dropped from .238 to .219 since the Fourth of July due to a 17-game stretch where he’s hitting .148 with two homers and four RBI.

Several significant obstacles stand in the way of this pipe dream becoming a reality, with the biggest being Buxton’s full no-trade clause and his strong desire to stay put.

But would Buxton turn down an opportunity to try to win a World Series with the Yankees? Would he pass up being a teammate of Judge?

Here’s another hurdle:

Twins ownership is said to be eager to appease an angry fan base who expected bigger payrolls and contending teams the last three years, not clubs with losing records. The Twins were 52-54 this season through Saturday, but that had them just two games out of the last wild card spot in a weak American League.

Cashman should make Buxton and the Twins say no. What’s there to lose by making a great offer that includes four of the Yankees’ best prospects, excluding George Lombard Jr., the 20-year-old untouchable who might go from shortstop of the future to shortstop of the present before summer turns to fall?

It could be Buxton or bust for legitimate outfield help. Heliot Ramos (Giants), Lane Thomas (Royals) and Taylor Ward (Orioles) could be on the Yankees’ radar, but all three are having mediocre offensive seasons and they are considered below-average outfielders.

What could entice the Twins to trade Buxton and Jeffers to the Yankees?

A package could include four top-10 prospects in the Yankees’ MLB Pipeline’s top 30: shortstop Dax Kilby (No. 2), pitchers Elmer Rodriguez (No. 3) and Carlos Lagrange (No. 4) and outfielder Spencer Jones (No. 7), plus catcher J.C. Escarra.

The Twins would be getting the Yankees’ two best pitching prospects, their second- and third-best position-player prospects, plus a catcher with solid receiving skills who is hitting .314 in 18 games with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Of those, all but Kilby are in Triple-A, so the Twins could be getting a lot of big-league help by 2027.

That would blow up the farm system, but surely improve the Yankees’ chances of winning the World Series this year.

We’ll find out over the next week if Cashman really is all in on 2026.

“I would imagine conversations are going on between clubs, but you’re talking about still a number of clubs that probably don’t even know what they’re going to do one way or another,” Boone said. “It’s still got to define itself here over the next several days. I would imagine those conversations start to heat up in the next week, and hopefully that allows us to do something that ultimately helps us.”

Cashman could pull that off by trading for Miller or …

Buxton and Jeffers could help the Yankees finally win that elusive 28th World Series title.

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