Yankees acquire shortstop Adeiny Hechavarria from the Pirates

Yesterday, the Yankees acquired Andrew McCutchen from the Giants. Then rumors swirled that the team was one of many in talks with the Blue Jays about Josh Donaldson. He ended up being sent to Cleveland. As midnight approached, fans wondered if Brian Cashman might have another trade up his sleeve. It turns out that he did.

Around 1 AM, the Yankees announced that they acquired Adeiny Hechavarria from the Pirates for a player to be named later or cash considerations. According to Mark Feinsand, the shortstop is owed about $1 million and Pittsburgh is going to pay part of that. That will keep the Yankees under the luxury tax threshold by a couple million dollars or so.

Hechavarria, 29, was already traded once this year. The Rays flipped him to Pittsburgh on August 6th for a minor league pitching prospect. He’s slashing .254/.287/.342 with four home runs through 76 games this season. It’s pretty clear that the Yankees didn’t get him for his bat. Although he has primarily played shortstop in the big leagues, Hechavarria has also spent time at second and third base. He figures to factor in as a defensive replacement. Between Miguel Andujar and Gleyber Torres, the team certainly could use a defensive boost in the later innings.

In order to clear room for him on the 40-man roster, the team designated Ryan Bollinger for assignment. The Yankees actually called him up on May 23rd and he joined the team in Texas for the series against Rangers. He never ended up making it into a game, and was sent back to Double-A Trenton a few days later. The southpaw owns a 3.87 ERA across 111.2 innings split between Trenton and Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.