The New York Yankees have acquired pitcher Cody Morris from the Cleveland Guardians in exchange for outfielder Estevan Florial.
The New York Yankees have agree to trade outfielder Estevan Florial to the Cleveland Guardians in exchange for right-handed pitcher Cody Morris, the Guardians announced on Twitter.
Estevan Florial was a part of the Yankees’ outfield depth, and he is out of minor league options heading into the 2024 season. With the additions of outfielders Juan Soto, Trent Grisham and Alex Verdugo in trades this offseason, the Yankees likely had no role for Florial in 2024, and would have had to designate him for assignment when it came time to make a roster for Opening Day.
Florial has a .209 average with a .313 on-base percentage, .609 OPS and one home run in 115 career games in MLB, according to MLB.com. He never got much of a chance with the Yankees, so maybe he will get more of a shot at playing time with the Guardians.
For a team that needs outfielders, this is a low-risk move for the Guardians. Maybe they can get serviceable play out of Florial in 2024.
The Yankees dealt a lot of pitching depth in the trade for Juan Soto and Trent Grisham from the San Diego Padres. It will be tough to fill the void that Michael King leaves, but the Yankees also lost Jhony Brito and Randy Vasquez in the deal. Both of them are arms who would have been capable of filling in as spot starters. Cody Morris fits that mold, as he started games in 2022 with the Guardians, and served as a long reliever at other times.
After missing out on Yoshinobu Yamamoto in free agency, the Yankees need to revamp their pitching depth a bit, and this trade does that.