New York Yankees make huge move for MLB All-Star just before trade deadline passes

The New York Yankees have traded for San Francisco Giants star Heliot Ramos just before the MLB’s trade deadline passed.

Ramos was an All-Star in 2024 and joins a Yankees team that was desperately seeking right-handed batters.

The 26-year-old Puerto Rican was drafted in the first round by the Giants in 2017 and he has played 386 games across five seasons.

In return for Ramos, the Yankees are sending pitcher Henry Lalane and infielder Kaeden Kent to the Bay Area in return. Ramos is hitting .264 this season with nine home runs.

It comes after the Yankees landed one of the more coveted bats of this year’s MLB trade deadline by sending a quartet of players to Washington for infielder Luis Garcia Jr on Sunday night.

Despite the Nats’ relatively low asking price, Garcia represents a major acquisition for a Yankees team that has been without injured sluggers like Aaron Judge, Cody Bellinger and Giancarlo Stanton.

The New York-born, Dominican-raised Garcia is hitting .283 with 23 home runs – numbers that outpace most of the Yankees’ current batting order outside of Ben Rice.

Over seven MLB seasons, Garcia is hitting .268 with a lackluster .302 on-base percentage and a respectable .431 slugging percentage. This year, though, Garcia led the National League with a .560 slugging percentage. 

There is a question over where he will play. Much of his 2026 season has been spent at first base, while he previously played second earlier in his career.

Currently the Yankees have Jazz Chisholm at second base, while Rice and Paul Goldschmidt have been splitting time at first.

Chisholm does have experience at third base, although that’s not a preferable option for the Yankees.

If the Yankees do get healthy enough for a postseason run, the general thinking is they will need all the bats they can get to compete with the two-time defending World Series champions, the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Currently the Yankees have a 6.5-game edge in the Wild Card standings, while trailing Tampa Bay in the AL East by 2.5 games.