Yankees reportedly were close to trading Luke Voit before deadline

The Yankees came very close to trading Luke Voit before last week’s trade deadline, according to Andy Martino of SNY. He says the team had lined up “three separate deals,” one of which fell apart just before the 4 p.m. ET deadline. As Martino puts it, “At about 3:30, it seemed that Voit was on the move to one undisclosed place, but the acquiring team pulled out of the deal, according to a person with direct knowledge of talks.”

Martino goes on to say that the team has “discussed” optioning Voit to Triple-A when he returns from his knee injury. If this scenario were to come to pass, it would be a stunning turnaround for a player who led all of MLB in home runs in 2020, en route to a wRC+ of 152.

But it hasn’t been the same this season. Voit’s current IL stint is his third of the year. And when on the roster, he hasn’t looked close to the monster he was in 2020. His 2021 line, in 29 games, is .241/.328/.370, a wRC+ of 97. And while on the shelf, he’s seen his job handed to Anthony Rizzo.

With Rizzo now entrenched at first base and Giancarlo Stanton slotting in as the designated hitter most nights, there’s suddenly no room for Voit in the lineup. And the club is currently employing a short bench of just three players, who need to have more positional flexibility than Voit, whose only time away from first base was a single inning in right field in 2018. Rizzo is a free agent at year’s end, which could potentially open the door for Voit to retake his position at first and in the lineup next year. Although Martino floats the possibility of the Yankees bringing Rizzo back and trading Voit, but says that the Yankees “don’t yet know” if they will try to take that route.

In the short term, Voit began a rehab assignment with the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders on Tuesday and will attempt to get back into game shape. Whether or not he returns to the Yankees after that remains to be seen.