Yankees Acquire Bullpen Arm From Padres Just Before Trade Deadline Concludes

The Yankees were able to get one last addition to the bullpen before the trade deadline concluded.

Jul 24, 2024; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; San Diego Padres pitcher Enyel De Los Santos (62) pitches against the Washington Nationals during the ninth inning at Nationals Park. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports / Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports

Before the 6 p.m. trade deadline on Tuesday, the New York Yankees made one last move.

According to Jack Curry of The YES Network, the Bronx Bombers acquired right-handed reliever Enyel De Los Santos from the San Diego Padres. The return for the Padres is yet to be announced.

BREAKING: Yankees acquire another bullpen piece in Enyel De Los Santos, per @JackCurryYES pic.twitter.com/WSa4kZAHlx

— YES Network (@YESNetwork) July 30, 2024

De Los Santos, like the team's other deadline acquisition Mark Leiter Jr. from the Chicago Cubs, will give the Yankees some much-needed swing-and-miss stuff in the bullpen. Although he has a 4.46 ERA in 40.1 innings, he has a 32.5% whiff rate and has struck out 28.2% of the batters he's faced. The 28-year-old is averaging 10.71 K/9.

There is still room for De Los Santos to improve, though. Although his walk rate (7.6%) is respectable, he struggles with preventing hard contact; whenever batters can hit his fastball, slider, or changeup, it tends to get launched. His 13.9% barrel rate, 48.1% hard-hit rate, and 35.2% ground ball rate all rank among the worst in the league, which doesn't bode well for Yankee Stadium's homer-friendly environment.

Nonetheless, working with Yankees' renowned pitching coach Matt Blake could help De Los Santos fix these issues; he's capable of throwing strikes, but he needs to throw more quality strikes.

In the end, the arrival of De Los Santos was New York's last move before the deadline officially passed. This gives them a total of three acquisitions over the past four days, those being Jazz Chisholm Jr., Leiter Jr., and De Lo Santos; the Yankees also traded away much-maligned reliever Caleb Ferguson to the Houston Astros.

With no more trades for the remainder of the season, the Yankees are largely content with what they have and are looking to make a serious run at a World Series title. They currently have a 63-45 record and trail the Baltimore Orioles by just 0.5 games in the AL East.