Yankees get Angels starter Andrew Heaney for Junk in trade
The Yankees were not just serious about left-handed power, they were set on improving their pitching too. In the final hour before the 4 p.m. trade deadline, the Yankees acquired left-handed starter Andrew Heaney from the Angles to improve their pitching depth. A team source confirmed the report from The Athletic.
As has been the theme for the Yankees this trade season, GM Brian Cashman got the Angels to throw in the cash to cover his salary, keeping the Yankees under the luxury tax threshold. The Yankees sent back minor league right-handers Janson Junk, who has been impressive at Double-A, and Elvis Peguero, who was just recently promoted to Double-A.
The 30-year-old Heaney, who was making $6.75 million, is a free agent after this season.
Heaney is a back-end starter who relies heavily on his fastball-curveball combination along with a changeup. He is 6-7 with a 5.27 ERA in 18 starts this season. He has struck out 113 over 94 innings pitched (10.8/per nine innings pitched) and issued 31 walks (3 per nine). He is among the best in the league in getting hitters to chase.
With the Yankees' pitching depth shredded by injuries and under-performance, they needed insurance to be able to eat up innings. They are hopeful that Luis Severino will be returning from March 2020 Tommy John surgery sometime in the next month. Corey Kluber just began throwing bullpens last week after suffering a strained muscle in his right shoulder’s rotator cuff. Youngster Deivi Garcia has had a disappointing year after making his big league debut last season and Clarke Schmidt, a top pitching prospect the Yankees hoped would force them to consider him a late-season callup, instead has just returned to minor league action after having been injured on the very first bullpen of spring.
