Yankees deal Adam Warren, Tyler Austin, trade for Lance Lynn | What it means

Yankees general manager Brian Cashman made another trade on Monday, July 30, 2018 (7/30/18), and this one was surprising, dumping pitcher Adam Warren. Last week, Cashman acquired reliever Zach Britton from the Baltimore Orioles and starter J.A. Happ from the Toronto Blue Jays.

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NEW YORK — Yankees GM Brian Cashman is reshaping his roster for a pennant run … especially the starting rotation.

Four days after acquiring All-Star left-hander J.A. Happ,the Yankees added a former All-Star Monday night acquiring righty Lance Lynn.

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The Yankees swapped Triple-A first baseman Tyler Austin and pitching prospect Luis Rijo to the Twins for Lynn.

Lynn, 31, is just 7-8 with a 5.10 ERA in 20 starts this season for the Twins, but he’s pitched to a 3.74 ERA over his last 12 starts after being at 7.47 in his first eight.

The deal for Lynn occurred about an hour after the Yankees traded veteran reliever Adam Warren to the Seattle Mariners for international signing bonus money.

These were the fourth and fifth trades in the last week for the Yankees, who still are looking to add a veteran outfielder to help fill in for All-Star right fielder Aaron Judge, who was lost for at least three weeks last Friday to a broken wrist.

According to MLB Network insider Jon Heyman, the Yankees are among several clubs in the running to acquire Miami Marlins outfielder Cameron Maybin, a right-handed batter who has hit .249 this season with three homers and 20 RBI in 98 games, 58 as a starter.

Until this season, Lynn was a standout throughout his career, as he was 72-47 with a 3.38 ERA pitching for the St. Louis Cardinals from 2011-15 and 2017-18.

In 2012, Lynn’s first full season, he was 18-7 with a 3.78 ERA and selected to the NL All-Star team.

The addition of Lynn could lead to righty Sonny Gray being traded or moved to the bullpen even though he was the Yankees’ best starter in July.

Why dump Warren?

The Yankees probably were freeing up dollars for Lynn and possibly an incoming outfielder while obeying orders from managing partner Hal Steinbrenner to stay under baseball’s $197 million luxury tax threshold.

Like Happ and Britton, Lynn is another rental, as he’s on a one-year, $12-million contract that will make him a free agent after the season. The Yankees and Twins reportedly will split paying the remaining $4 million that Lynn is owed this season.

Warren, 30, is headed to another contending club in Seattle, which currently holds the second Wild Card spot in the American League. He’s making $3.13 million this season and can become a free agent after the 2018 World Series.

Austin was traded shortly after he was pulled after one inning from Scranton/Wilkes-Barre’s game at Rochester on Monday night.

Austin, 26, helped the Yankees early in the season, as he hit .223 with eight homers, 23 RBI and a .751 OPS in 34 games before being optioned on July 7.

The Twins also are getting Rijo, a 19-year-old who was 4-1 with a 2.77 ERA in seven games this season pitching in rookie ball and Class A.

Last week, the Yankees made two big trades for pitching with reliever Zach Britton coming over from the Baltimore Orioles and Happ acquired from the Toronto Blue Jays.

Britton is a three-time All-Star while Happ went to his first All-Star Game this season.

Happ won his Yankees debut on Sunday with a one-run, six-inning outing in a win over the Kansas City Royals at Yankee Stadium.

Warren’s departure is a mild surprise because he’s been mostly solid as a jack-of-all-trades reliever, but he probably dropped to the seventh-best option in the Yankees’ best-in-baseball bullpen with Britton’s arrival.

Others who had been ahead of Warren in the pecking order included Aroldis Chapman, Dellin Betances, David Robertson, Chad Green and Jonathan Holder.

The Yankees adding international signing bonus money is no surprise. They’ve made several trades over the last two years for international signing bonus money, including three in the last week, and on Monday they used some of it to add 16-year-old Cuban right-hander Osiel Rodriguez, who is getting a $600,000 signing bonus.

Rodriguez was ranked as the No. 5 international prospect by Baseball America and No. 9 by MLB.com

Randy Miller may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @RandyJMiller. Find NJ.com on Facebook.