Yankees Broadcaster Sounds Concerned About Trade Deadline

These are not the best of times for the New York Yankees. The team has fallen out of first place in the American League East after going 2-7 in its last nine games.

On top of that, the Yankees lost starter Clarke Schmidt to an arm injury which is expected to sideline him the rest of the season and require Tommy John surgery.

That leaves general manager Brian Cashman with a lot of work to do ahead of the July 31 MLB trade deadline. Michael Kay, the Yankees play-by-play announcer on YES, joined "The Show" with the New York Post's Jon Heyman and Joel Sherman on Monday and talked about what New York needs to do at the trade deadline to remain a playoff team. While he doesn't exactly hit the panic button, Kay said it's clear something needs to change on the Yankees.

"I look at this and I don't think you could stand pat and expect them to just get better," Kay said. "I think they need to get two arms in the bullpen. I think they at least need one starter of import. And I think they have to get a right-handed hitting third baseman. That's a lot of stuff to get without emptying out your talent system in the minor leagues.

"So I'm not sure if Brian (Cashman) is going to be able to pull it off, but sitting back and waiting for things to turn on this team, when Marcus Stroman is now your third starter, I simply think that they've run into too many problems. And the bullpen is the biggest problem of all," Kay concluded.

The Yankees sit in second place in the AL East, 3 1/2 games behind the first-place Toronto Blue Jays. New York is just a half-game ahead of the third place Tampa Bay Rays. According to FanGraphs, the Yankees have a 34.6% chance of winning the division.

That said, the Yankees currently sit atop the AL Wild Card standings. New York has a 51.2% chance of making the playoffs as a wild card. So overall, the Yankees have an 85.8% chance of reaching the postseason, according to FanGraphs. Only three American League clubs have better odds: the Blue Jays (89.7%), Detroit Tigers (99.6%) and Houston Astros (97.7%).

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