Yankees Add Jaime Garcia to Rotation

Yankees Get: Jaime Garcia (5-7, 4.29 ERA, 1.34 WHIP, 92/44 K/BB, Age 31)
Twins Get: Dietrich Enns (2-1, 1.99 ERA, 0.93 WHIP, 47/10 K/BB at GCL and AAA, Age 26)
Zack Littell (14-1, 1.87 ERA, 1.08 WHIP, 109/23 K/BB at High Class A and AA, Age 21)

When the Twins acquired Jaime Garcia from the Braves last week, they were 49-48 and just one game out of the Wild Card. Now, they're 50-52 and four games out of the Wild Card, so they flipped Garcia over to the Yankees for a pair of prospects. With Michael Pineda out for the season, Garcia will replace Caleb Smith in the New York rotation and help them try to fend off the Rays and Red Sox in the AL East. He's struggled with health in the past, but he's been healthy the past couple of seasons, and through 19 starts this year, he's 5-7 with a 4.29 ERA and a 1.34 WHIP. With Luis Severino, Masahiro Tanaka, C.C. Sabathia, and Jordan Montgomery also in the rotation, the Yankees should have no problems getting quality starts for the rest of the season. For his career, Garcia is 67-52 with a 3.65 ERA and a 1.29 WHIP over ten seasons, and he'll be a free agent after the season.

The Twins are getting two pitching prospects out of Garcia, with Dietrich Enns being the more advanced. Enns has done nothing but dominate since he was drafted out of Central Michigan in 2012, going 27-14 with a 1.87 ERA and a 1.08 WHIP over his career, never posting an ERA above 2.94 in any given season. This year, in seven starts at AAA Scranton-Wilkes Barre, he is 1-1 but with a 2.29 ERA and a 1.02 WHIP, striking out 37 and walking 10 in 39.1 innings. He also made one dominant rehab start in the Gulf Coast League, striking out ten, walking none, and allowing just two hits over six shutout innings. The 6'1" lefty isn't overpowering but he works with what he has and should be a valuable back-end starter or reliever. Zack Littell had a breakout season in the mid-minors last year, going 13-6 with a 2.66 ERA and a 1.16 WHIP over 28 games (27 starts) for Class A Clinton and High Class A Bakersfield, and has built on it even more this year. Traded to the Yankees in the James Pazos deal, he started off with High Class A Tampa this year in the pitcher-friendly Florida State League, and he dominated by going 9-1 with a 1.77 ERA and a 1.12 WHIP, striking out 57 and walking 15 in 71.1 innings. Promoted to AA Trenton, he kept up the good work, going 5-0 with a 2.05 ERA and a 1.02 WHIP, striking out 52 and walking just eight in 44 innings. With his low 90's fastball and good curveball, he relies more on pitchability than on explosive stuff, but the 6'4" right has had no problems getting hitters out all the way up to AA.