Yankees may come crawling to SF Giants after brutal Aaron Judge injury news

The SF Giants are looking like they are going to be sellers at the trade deadline this year. While there’s always a chance the team could turn things around and put itself in position to be aggressive at the deadline, the Giants have dug themselves such a big hole and have been so inconsistent it’s difficult to see that happening.

The Giants have a number of trade pieces teams should have interest in, and the New York Yankees may very well be calling them soon after news came out that their star outfielder Aaron Judge suffered a stress fracture in his rib. The injury will keep him out for quite a while although the hope is that he will return sometime this season.

Still, that means the Yankees could be looking for an outfielder to fill in for him at the trade deadline. The Giants just so happen to have a number of outfielders they could be interested in trading so perhaps the two sides will end up striking a deal.

The Giants entered the year with Heliot Ramos as their starting left fielder, Harrison Bader as their starting center fielder, and Jung Hoo Lee as their starting right fielder. Those three have rarely been together on the field at the same time as they have all spent time on the IL.

Ramos and Bader are currently on the shelf due to injury while Lee is absolutely on fire and may be the hottest Giants fans have ever seen him at the plate since he signed that six-year, $113 million deal a few years ago.

Giants are well-positioned to trade an outfielder to the Yankees

If things continue on their current trajectory, there’s a good chance all three of them will be up for grabs at the deadline. Lee is certainly the most enticing trade chip of any of them and the Yankees saw firsthand last season just how good Lee can be when he gets hot.

Ramos could be a decent option for the Yankees as well. He’s a good hitter with quite a bit of pop in his bat when he gets going even if his defense is still very much below average. 

Both Ramos and Lee are under team control for a while as Ramos is not set to be a free agent until 2030 and the earliest Lee can opt out of his deal is after next season. That means the Giants could ask for a little bit more from the Yankees in a trade since neither player is a rental.

Bader could be another option for New York but he probably wouldn’t get the Giants too much in return. While he’s above average defensively, he is hitting just .170/.198/.358 on the season. He’s under contract for 2027 as well and has played for the Yankees before so he knows what it’s like to don that uniform.

A lot of this could have to do with Judge and how he progresses from his injury. If the Yankees think he could return in August then maybe they wouldn’t be as aggressive at the trade deadline. But if it seems like Judge will not be back until the playoffs then maybe they go out and make a move for Lee.

No matter what, the Giants are now in a good position to do business with the Yankees as a result of the Judge injury so Buster Posey should be working that phone. He made a deal with New York last year in the Camilo Doval trade so maybe he can turn this into an annual tradition.

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