The New York Yankees have been one of the best teams in MLB this year, but could they have been even better if they stuck it out with a couple of former players?
Juan Soto is having a down year with the New York Mets, which of course still means he has a 138 OPS+, but that hasn’t been the case for all former Yankees.
Here are some ex-New York stars that have been filling up the stat sheets in their new threads this year:
Torres went through a bunch of ups-and-downs with the Yankees, but is currently on an all-time up in his first year with the Detroit Tigers.
The 28-year-old has posted a .300/.360/.475 slash line with four home runs in 20 games. He has an OPS+ of 140, which would be the highest mark of his career.
If they were able to run it back with him at second with Jazz Chisholm in the hot corner, this would have had an argument to be the best infield in baseball.
RHP Tommy Kahnle
Kahnle also joined the Tigers this offseason and has been part of the sport’s best pitching staff.
The 35-year-old has been virtually un-hittable this year with just four hits allowed in 12.2 innings of work. He has a 0.71 ERA and 0.553 WHIP.
He has been great for years, but has taken yet another step in this campaign.
The path to the roster was always going to be a difficult one for Trevino this season. It still isn’t exactly clear how he would fit in New York this year, but it still has to slightly sting to see how well he is doing for the Cincinnati Reds.
Over the last two years, he has a .213/.275/.336 slash line with 12 home runs. This year, he has a .319/.359/.528 line with three homers.
SP Clay Holmes
It may not exactly be a career year in terms of ERA, but the fact that he is doing it in his first season as a starting pitcher is definitely impressive.
Holmes has a 2.95 ERA with a 1.282 WHIP and 9.6 K/9 in seven starts for the Mets. He would have been a huge part of this pitching staff if he was able to do that with the Yankees.
Sears is a bit of a different story than the others, given that he was traded back in 2022. Ironically, Trivino was a part of the return they got back for him.
The main focus of that trade was Frankie Montas, though, who didn’t end up doing much for New York.
Sears has been dominant this year with a 2.94 ERA and 1.069 WHIP.
