A busy day for the New York Yankees continues! Not long after reports emerged of a trade sending Adam Warren to Seattle, the club arranged a deal to acquire right-handed starting pitcher Lance Lynn from the Minnesota Twins, along with half of the cash for his remaining salary. The return? First baseman-outfielder Tyler Austin and pitcher Luis Rijo.

As I note in the piece to which I’ve linked above, Warren was expendable for the Yankees because he’d been used predominantly in low-leverage innings, a role that pitchers inferior to Warren could handle without much effect on the team’s bottom line. As if to reinforce that point, New York brings in Lance Lynn, a pitcher whom I pegged as likely to be one of the winter’s worst bargains, something that didn’t materialize as free agency ground to a halt and Lynn ended up signing a one-year deal with the Twins. It’s hard to say the league was wrong in hindsight, Lynn’s 4.82 FIP in 2017 being a better predictor of his 5.10 ERA in 2018 than the misleadingly low 3.43 ERA he put up in his final season in St. Louis. It’s unclear at this point if the Yankees intend to use Lynn to possibly boot Sonny Gray from the rotation or simply use him as a low-leverage swingman.

From the Yankee standpoint, I’m not crazy about this move. I think, with Judge’s injury, that outfield depth (in the form of Austin) is a bit more important to the club in the near future, with trades becoming more difficult after another 24 hours. The opportunity to trade Austin over the winter would have come in handy.

For the Twins, it’s an easy move to like. Lance Lynn didn’t have a future with the Twins, and they can now put the rotation spot to better use, focusing on the future rather than a 2018 that is, for all intents and purposes, over. Joe Mauer is unsigned past this year and, after Logan Morrison’s year, LoMo maybe No Mo’ soon. I’m far from convinced Austin will ever be an average full-time starter in the majors, but he has enough power to merit a look and a long way to go until free agency. Minnesota’s future success will be driven by players like Jose Berrios, Byron Buxton, and Miguel Sano, but they need cost-controlled stopgaps and role players, as well.

At this point, Luis Rijo is interesting, in that he’s recorded a 117:14 strikeout-to-walk ratio in the low minors. He’s a smallish pitcher who doesn’t throw hard, so he’s got a lot to prove in terms in getting more advanced hitters out before he really starts to appear on the radar.