After moving early to address third base and the team's bench, Brian Cashman knew he couldn't let Thursday's 6 p.m. ET trade deadline go by without landing at least one impact arm for the New York Yankees bullpen. It took a little longer than fans would've liked, but with a few hours to spare he finally got his man, acquiring closer David Bednar from the Pittsburgh Pirates.
The New York Yankees are finalizing a trade to acquire closer David Bednar from the Pittsburgh Pirates, sources tell ESPN. Deal is pending medical review.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) July 31, 2025
In return, the Yankees will send catching prospects Rafael Flores (No. 8 in New York's system, per MLB Pipeline), Edgleen Perez (No. 14) as well as outfielder Brian Sanchez.
It's hard to overstate just how big a boost this will be to a Yankees relief corps that's been taking on water for weeks now. With Fernando Cruz, Mark Leiter Jr. and Ryan Yarbrough on the IL and arms like Jonathan Loaisiga and Ian Hamilton imploding, Devin Williams and Luke Weaver were just about the only options Aaron Boone had to turn to late in games, and even they had begun to show signs of wear and tear.
Bednar will change that in a big way. The righty had a down year in 2024, but he's gotten back to his All-Star form this season, with a 2.37 ERA and 51 strikeouts across 38 innings in Pittsburgh. He brings the sort of high-octane stuff (89th-percentile fastball velocity, 95th-percentile K rate) you want in a high-leverage arm, plus loads of closing experience.
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MLB trade grade: David Bednar gives Yankees bullpen punch they desperately needed
The Yankees simply couldn't afford to come away from this deadline without not just bullpen depth but someone who could slot comfortably into high-leverage spots. And with Williams and Weaver set to hit free agency, it would help it that someone was under team control beyond 2025. Bednar checks both of those boxes, helping New York make a push for the playoffs now while also offering one more year of arbitration before hitting the market next winter.
He might not be Jhoan Duran or Mason Miller, but he's very good in his own right, and this price feels light given what we've seen relievers around the league go for over the last 48 hours. The Yankees catching development machine has churned out quality prospects for years now, and that depth has paid off big-time here, acquiring a legitimate closing-caliber arm without touching any of the team's top pitching or position player prospects.
Flores put up an .841 OPS at Double-A but has struggled since being bumped up to Triple-A; while there's excellent raw power here, it also comes with big swing-and-miss questions that need to be answered as he faces elite pitching. Perez, for his part, is rock-solid behind the plate but a project with the bat. Neither player projects as a star, and that makes this deal easily worth the cost of doing business for New York.
Yankees grade: A-
It's tough to figure out exactly what Ben Cherington was going for here. The Pirates have sunk a ton of assets into C/1B types in recent years, from No. 1 overall pick Henry Davis to flipping Luis Ortiz for Spencer Horwitz last winter. That's ... curious roster construction, to say the least. Pittsburgh could really use the promising pop Flores brings, but given the other packages we saw for relievers of late, it's hard to figure out why the team wouldn't target a prospect that had a more reliable big-league future.
Of course, it's also hard to figure out why they felt compelled to double dip with catchers. If the Pirates are going to contend, they need to start acquiring offense however they can, and this deal wouldn't seem to bring them much closer to that goal.