My Take: Yankees Acquire Amed Rosario

The details:

The Yankees acquire UTIL Amed Rosario from the Washington Nationals for RHP Clayton Beeter and OF Browm Martinez.

The Yankees aren’t going for “flashy” lineup upgrades at the deadline, but any upgrade is still an update.

I was once a big fan of Oswald Peraza‘s. After an encouraging 18-game audition in 2022 (.306/.404/.429), he has crashed and burned to the point where you wonder if he is rosterable in the big leagues. Forced into the lineup this season, he is hitting .152/.212/.241 in 170 plate appearances with a 27.6% strikeout rate. No one’s defense or speed can make up for that level of a triple slash.

Enter Rosario, a bench player with the ability to hit left-handed pitching. Given the struggles of Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Ryan McMahon against southpaws, a lefty masher should come in handy. That is, if you trust Aaron Boone to utilize a player like Rosario properly.

This season, he is hitting .299/.333/.483 with three home runs in 93 plate appearances against southpaws, and he owns a career mark of .298/.337/.462 over a healthy 1,167 plate appearance sample size.

Once a top prospect in all of baseball for the Mets organization, Rosario never quite lived up to the hype. Cleveland valued him enough to take him as part of the package for Francisco Lindor, and he initially rewarded them by compiling a 103 wRC+ and 5.9 fWAR between 2021 and 2022. He provided solid offensive value (including strong baserunning metrics), though his defense was mediocre, if you want to be nice.

The defense has since eroded even more (while he has played a handful of games there over the last few seasons, it’s a stretch to say he can “play” shortstop), but his offense against left-handed pitching remains desirable. His baserunning metrics are still above average, though he has only attempted (and converted) one stolen base for Washington this year. If he doesn’t go on a running tear, it will break a streak of four straight seasons where he reached double-digit stolen bases (six straight if you ignore 2020).

The money is meaningless. They will pay Rosario a prorated portion of his $2 million salary, and he is a free agent at the end of the season.

If used properly, Rosario is a useful player. Not everyone needs to be a defensive wizard to be useful, especially bench players.

What the Yankees Gave Up:

Clayton Beeter throws hard. His fastball/slider combination is as traditional as you can get for a reliever. However, success has eluded him in his brief MLB tryouts. The 26-year-old (acquired from the Dodgers for Joey Gallo) owns a 9.82 ERA (7.08 FIP) in only 7.1 innings, allowing two homers and five walks while striking out eight. Additionally, injuries have held him back. For the Nationals, he brings an interesting arm. We all know that relievers can suddenly blossom into something with a tweak here or a tweak there. He has the velocity. Can he stay healthy and find consistency? He wasn’t going to get that chance in New York.

Browm Martinez is too far down the chain to worry about. Signed for $130,000 during the 2024 international signing period, the 18-year-old right-handed outfielder owns a career DSL triple slash of .320/.426/.419 in 209 plate appearances with 34 stolen bases in 41 attempts. That may make you drool, but it’s the DSL. The only thing we can say is that he has done enough to earn a shot in the FCL in 2026. He hasn’t played since July 3rd.

Bottom Line:

Even though the Yankees are desperate for relief pitching, there weren’t many indicators that Beeter was going to be helpful. At least not in 2025. The Nationals can throw him in the pen and hope something clicks. I will never worry about DSL-level prospects. The range of outcomes is as wide as you can get.

The Yankees will place Aaron Judge on the injured list and replace him with Rosario. That isn’t the perfect switch, but it works for now.

Rosario fills a need as a right-handed hitting 2B/3B with some experience in right field (the Rays used him there in 2024, but the Nationals have played him there only once in 2025). He is an upgrade over Peraza, which makes him worthwhile enough. The Yankees wanted to sign him before the 2024 season. However, he felt that Tampa offered him more playing time.

Now that the Yankees have him, it’s up to Boone to use him properly.