On Tuesday, the New York Yankees completed a trade with the Cleveland Guardians that sent former top prospect Estevan Florial to the Rock n’ Roll Capital of the World.
The writing was on the wall for Florial, as he was already receiving very limited playing time due to a logjam of players in the outfield. That logjam increased with the acquisitions of Alex Verdugo, Juan Soto, and Trent Grisham. With Florial out of minor league options, the Bronx Bombers had no choice but to trade him away.
In return, the Yankees got right-handed pitcher Cody Morris, a 27-year-old with 13 pitching appearances at the Major League level, including five starts. His pitch mix includes a four-seam fastball around 95 MPH, while he also throws a cutter, a curveball, and a changeup.
Morris has a 3.41 ERA in a limited sample size of 31.2 innings pitched, although his adjusted ERA (or ERA+) is slightly above average at 116; his strikeout-to-walk ratio is 1.78.
On Baseball Savant, Morris doesn’t qualify for percentile rankings in most categories, but the limited data was able to show some of his strengths and weaknesses. Morris’s strengths revolve around his velocity and swing-and-miss ability; in 2023, his fastball ranks in the 71st percentile for velocity, while his whiff percentage (27%) and strikeout rate (23.7%) would be around league average had he pitched enough to qualify.
Morris’s weaknesses revolve around his tendencies to walk batters and allow hard contact. Last season, he walked 15.8% of his batters, while his barrel and hard-hit percentages were 13% and 52.2%, respectively, both of which were very poor. As such, Morris’s profile shows that he’s good at striking batters out, but his struggles in finding the strike zone leave him vulnerable to being hit hard when he tries to throw strikes.
One of the most valuable aspects of acquiring Morris is that he still has two minor league options available. As such, the Yankees can use him in Triple-A if he isn’t quite ready to make the jump to the majors. As mentioned earlier, Morris has experience as both a starter and a relief pitcher, so the Yankees can also use him for multi-inning appearances.
It is worth mentioning that Morris has faced the Yankees before, pitching the seventh and eighth innings in Game 4 of the 2022 ALDS. He retired all six batters he faced, three by strikeout.
Overall, it made perfect sense for the Yankees to acquire Morris, simply because they need pitching depth; in the Alex Verdugo and Juan Soto trades, the Bronx Bombers gave up a combined seven pitchers, including three prospects. Even if Morris isn’t major league ready, his two minor league options give the Yankees some roster flexibility and the time needed to unlock his potential.
As for Florial, he no longer had a role in the Yankees’ future plans, and when considering his previous status as a highly regarded prospect, it would have greatly stung if the Yankees had to release him and get nothing in return.
Considering the team’s track record of developing strong bullpen arms, the Yankees should be pleased with getting a controllable pitcher with upside.
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