Yankees acquire Mark Leiter Jr. from Cubs

Yankees acquire Mark Leiter Jr. from Cubs

The New York Yankees have acquired reliever Mark Leiter Jr. from the Chicago Cubs in exchange for prospects Jack Neely and Ben Cowles, ESPN’s Jeff Passan and Kiley McDaniel were among the first to report ahead of Tuesday’s trade deadline.

Trade news: The New York Yankees and Chicago Cubs are in agreement on a trade that will send right-handed reliever Mark Leiter Jr. to the Yankees and infielder Ben Cowles and right-handed reliever Jack Neely to the Cubs, sources tell me and @kileymcd.

— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) July 30, 2024

Neely and Cowles were ranked as the Yankees’ No. 22 and 29 prospects, respectively, according to MLB Pipeline.

Leiter, 33, was a late bloomer in the majors, but he’s been quite productive for the Cubs since the start of the 2022 season. In 39 appearances this season, he sports a 4.21 ERA, though possesses a 2.11 FIP and is an elite swing-and-miss reliever.

According to Baseball Savant, he grades in the 92nd percentile or better in chase rate, whiff rate (98th) and strikeout rate (98th), fanning 34.9 percent of batters with a very good splitter, sinker and sweeper. He also grades in the 80th percentile in hard-hit rate allowed, 85th in average exit velocity and 84th in ground-ball rate.

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Given the reliever market, selling two prospects outside the top-20 from a solid farm system for one of the better swing-and-miss arms available could return a strong return on investment. It’s also worth mentioning that Leiter has two more years of control left after this season.

Neely and Cowles were also Rule 5 eligible in December, according to Roster Resource. Neely was closer to the majors than Cowles, but if you weren’t going to add them for the 40-man, this isn’t a bad way of parlaying your assets.

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This is a breaking news story. Stay tuned for updates.

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