MLB trade rumors: Yankees, Red Sox going after same elite reliever?

The MLB non-waiver trade deadline is July 31, 2018 (7/31/18). Yankees general manager Brian Cashman will be shopping for a starter, after injuries to Jordan Montgomery and Masahiro Tanaka. But he might also be looking at relievers, and could cross paths with Dave Dombrowski and the Boston Red Sox.

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As the calendar gets ready to to turn to summer (on Thursday), it’s easy to imagine the fall shaping up as a two-team race in the American League East.

The Yankees and Red Sox are battling not just for the best record in the division, but also the best record in baseball.

Pretty soon, they will be battling over players on other teams’ rosters as the July 31st non-waiver trade deadline approaches.

Conventional wisdom has Yankees general manager Brian Cashman chasing a starting pitcher to make up for the injuries to Jordan Montgomery and Masahiro Tanaka. 

At the same time, the Red Sox are expected to chase a bat to add some thunder to the bottom third of their lineup.

However, as we saw last year at the trade deadline, and again in free agency, nothing could be more valuable than a relief pitcher, and both the Yankees and Sox could be looking for an extra arm in their bullpens.

Which means both of them could be looking at San Diego Padres reliever Brad Hand, per Christopher Smith of masslive.com. 

(Red Sox) president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski needs to acquire at least one setup man before the July 31 trade deadline. He should be pursuing a top impact reliever, such as Padres’ Brad Hand or Orioles’ Zach Britton and Brad Brach.

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Relievers come cheap at the deadline, but Hand might be a different story considering he’s an elite closer and under control through 2020. 

Blake Snell to the Yankees?

The Yankees had previously been connected to the 28-year-old Hand. The Athletic’s Jim Bowden said New York could be one of several teams looking at the southpaw reliever.

If the Yankees land Hand, they will own him a little bit over $14M across 2019-2020, and hold a $10M team option on his contract for 2021.

(NJ Advance Media’s Joe Giglio contributed to this report.)

Mike Rosenstein may be reached at mrosenstein@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @rosenstein73. Find NJ.com on Facebook.