An emergency Yankees-Diamondbacks trade to avoid giving DJ LeMahieu playing time

The New York Yankees have one of the most talented rosters in the league, headlined by the two best players in the AL, Juan Soto and Aaron Judge. The season that these two players are putting together is truly spectacular.

But there are still some obvious holes on the roster, one of them being the right side of the infield. Gleyber Torres and Anthony Rizzo have, simply put, let the team down this year. Neither one are getting on base or slugging at an impressive rate, leading to both having an OPS+ under the league average.

Rizzo is currently facing the potential of missing time after a recent injury scare. This leaves the Yankees in the spot where they may have to play DJ LeMaiheu over at first base.

They need to avoid this at all costs.

A Yankees-Diamondbacks trade that upgrades New York's lineup in a big way

Before we get into this, let me preface something. The Diamondbacks should not and would not make this trade right now. This is just a hypothetical option on the chance that Arizona begins to fall out of playoff contention. If they do fall out of playoff contention, they could look into trading Christian Walker, but as of now, that wouldn't happen.

With that said, the Yankees could be aggressive in the first base market in order to fill this gaping hole at first base. They would absolutely look into acquiring Christian Walker from the Diamondbacks, if he becomes available, as an expensive rental option.

Acquiring Walker would be one of the more expensive rental deals that a deal could make. Walker is slashing .257/.337/.483 with 16 home runs and is coming off back-to-back Gold Glove seasons at first base. He's truly an incredibly valuable player to have.

For this trade to go through, if the Diamondbacks fall out of contention, the Yankees would be sending three of their top 15 prospects to Arizona.

The package is headlined by their seventh ranked prospect, Will Warren. Warren has struggled with the home run this year, allowing 14 homers in 60 innings so far. He's still a work in progress, but his incredible slider makes him a valuable asset that any team would work with.

Rice, New York's 12th-ranked prospect, is having a solid 2024 season. He's slashing .275/.393/.532 across two levels of the minors this year. His bat is his best asset and he's putting it on full display this year.

Vivas is really struggling in 2024, but he remains talented. His real talent is with his bat, which would need to be improved more for him to make his debut in the big leagues. He's a bit of a risky prospect at this point, but his ceiling is a .300-level hitter in the big leagues.

For the Yankees, this deal would stack their lineup with another 35+ home run bat. If the Diamondbacks fall out of contention and opt to sell, the Yankees need to be first in line at trying to acquire the services of Christian Walker.