MLB trade rumors: Yankees have talked with Mets ‘multiple times’

Yankees general manager Brian Cashman and the Mets have been in contact as the July 31 trade deadline approaches, according to a report.

The Yankees and Mets have been in contact regarding trades, according to a report from the New York Post’s Ken Davidoff and George King.

From the report:

(Yankees general manager) Brian Cashman acknowledged Thursday that he has spoken multiple times with the Mets, who are out of contention and therefore have to at least consider dealing the young, frontline members of their starting rotation. The Yankees’ general manager intends to maintain those talks through the Mets’ front-office transition, in which Omar Minaya, J.P. Ricciardi and John Ricco have assumed interim GM duties after (general manager) Sandy Alderson took a medical leave of absence and indicated he likely wouldn’t return to the job.

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Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner has said that addressing the starting rotation is a “need” and that there’s enough payroll money to do it.

The Yankees spent the offseason and spring training looking for starting pitching, with Cashman repeatedly saying it was a “stated goal” to add to the rotation.

The Yankees have suffered a pair of blows to an already-thin rotation. They lost Jordan Montgomery to Tommy John surgery, and Masahiro Tanaka has been out a couple weeks with two strained hamstrings.

The Mets could trade their best starting pitchers. Jacob deGrom and Noah Syndergaard each would make strong additions to any rotation. Putting either of them alongside Yankees ace Luis Severino could go a long way toward boosting the Yankees’ World Series hopes, but at what cost? Cashman has said he won’t deal rookie sensation Gleyber Torres.

Brendan Kuty may be reached at bkuty@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @BrendanKutyNJ. Find NJ.com Yankees on Facebook.