OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA – APRIL 17: Blake Treinen #39 shakes hands with Josh Phegley #19 of the Oakland Athletics after they beat the Houston Astrosat Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum on April 17, 2019 in Oakland, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
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The Oakland A’s have put former All-Star reliever Blake Treinen on the trading block and the Yankees appear to be among the teams who have interest in acquiring him.
It’s been a quiet offseason for the Yankees so far but with the Winter Meetings right around the corner, there’s a good chance business is about to pick up. Starting pitching is still the top priority as it should be but before the winter is all said and done the Yanks are likely going to add another reliever or two.
According to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, the right-handed Treinen is on the Yankees radar and if they were able to make a trade to bring him to New York he would be a very intriguing addition to the bullpen. Two years go he was arguably the best reliever in baseball but he’s become expendable after posting a very poor season in 2019.
He had 16 saves and a 4.91 ERA in 58.2 IP last season with a brutal 1.62 WHIP. He struggled mightily with his command and couldn’t keep his power sinker down in the zone consistently. In 2018 that wasn’t an issue for Treinen at all when he posted one of the best seasons by a closer in recent memory. He was absolutely dominant going 9-2 with 38 saves, a 0.78 ERA and 100 K’s in 80.1 IP.
Treinen is obviously capable of much more than what he showed last season so there is reason to believe he’ll be able to bounce back nicely in 2020. Despite having a down year last season, his stuff was still electric at times so a change of scenery could be exactly what he needs to get his career back on track.
The A’s are reportedly considering trading him because they’re trying to lower their payroll down from a projected $111.2M to $90 million before next season begins. Treinen is due to make 7.8M in 2020 and after the season he’ll become a free agent for the first time in his career. It’s unclear what the A’s would be looking for from the Yankees or any other team in return for Treinen but considering he’s in a walk year and coming off a bad season it shouldn’t cost a whole lot.
Personally, I’d rather see the Yanks try to bring Dellin Betances back on a one or two-year deal because he’s a much more consistent reliever but if he signs elsewhere Treinen wouldn’t be a bad fallback option to pursue. This offseason’s free-agent relief market isn’t very strong so adding another reliever like him to the pen via trade might be the best route to go.
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Again, Treinen still has the repertoire of pitches to dominate and the Yankees and their analytics department must see that. This leads me to believe that they might look at him as a potential project for new pitching coach Matt Blake to work with and could help him return to his All-Star form.