Yankees could trade Rookie of the Year for Kyle Tucker: MLB Insider

The offseason is only beginning to heat up for the New York Yankees. After missing out on re-signing Juan Soto in free agency, the Yankees front office turned their attention to starting pitcher Max Fried.

The club handed out the largest contract in MLB history for a southpaw, inking Fried to an eight-year, $218 million deal. While the addition of Fried is massive, it still doesn't fill the void left by Soto.

Enter Kyle Tucker, who might be the perfect replacement for Juan Soto for the New York Yankees. The Houston Astros superstar will become an unrestricted free agent at the end of the 2025 season, so if an extension is not signed between the parties, testing the trade market might be the best option.

The Bronx Bombers could use their overloaded pitching staff to try and land Kyle Tucker in a deal. After bringing in Max Fried, the Yankees have expendable pitchers who could tempt the Astros into moving Tucker to the Bronx. On Wednesday's episode of Foul Territory, Rosenthal revealed that AL Rookie of the Year Luis Gil could be part of that deal.

"When you get Fried, now you have the ability to trade a starting pitcher and they could do some things," Rosenthal said during the episode. "They could trade Stroman, they could trade Nestor Cortes Jr., and maybe they could even trade American League Rookie of the Year Luis Gil... Gil could be a guy that you use in a Kyle Tucker trade."

The new flexibility that New York has after signing Max Fried makes their next steps intriguing. Given the likely asking price and that Tucker is an unrestricted free agent at the end of the 2025 campaign, it's easy to draw parallels to the Juan Soto trade the team made last offseason.

The New York Yankees will need to improve their lineup with or without Kyle Tucker

Houston Astros star Kyle Tucker is a trade target for the New York Yankees. (Credits: IMAGN)

Rosenthal pointed out that the Bronx Bombers can make a significant move if they are willing to use some of their pitching depth to their advantage.

While it does not necessarily need to be Luis Gil on the move, given the departures of Juan Soto, Gleyber Torres, and Alex Verdugo, it's clear that they will need to make some additions somewhere.

"It's going to be really interesting to see how the Yankees leverage their pitching depth, if they do at all and I expect that they will, as well as whatever else they might do to improve their offense," Rosenthal continued.

GM Brian Cashman has some work to do: whether the team is willing to offer up a potential star like Luis Gil to land Kyle Tucker or if they pursue some notable free agents such as Anthony Santander or Teoscar Hernandez.