Yankees trade rumors: Noah Syndergaard, Marcus Stroman, Madison Bumgarner

The MLB trade deadline is just five days away. The market, however, has yet to fully develop. One Yankees source told SNY’s Andy Martino that the team believes “...this pitching to go down to the wire, maybe the final day.” Expect a frenzy of moves come July 31. It should be fun!

In the meantime, here are some of the latest rumors:

Mets motivated to move Syndergaard, don’t expect trade with Yankees

For a while it looked like this deadline would feature a bunch of good, but not great, pitchers on the move. That may have changed as the Mets appear open to deal Noah Syndergaard. Marc Carig and Buster Olney report that the Amazin’s have pushed the right-hander, and he might command the largest haul of any player traded this month.

The Yankees love Syndergaard—they tried to acquire him at the Winter Meetings—but most believe that the Mets won’t make a significant trade with their crosstown rivals. “We’d be crazy to put ourselves in the position of having them win with one of our guys,’’ A Mets official told Wally Matthews. The wild part? That was in reference to Zack Wheeler. Imagine their stance on Syndergaard, a significantly better pitcher who has years of control remaining.

Joel Sherman, meanwhile, says the Mets don’t love the Yankees’ farm system. They prefer the likes of the Braves and Padres as trade partners. I believe will Brian Cashman keep asking, but if Thor gets moved, it probably won’t be to the Bronx.

Yankees not frontrunners for Stroman

Among Yankees fans, Marcus Stroman might be the most popular target. The right-hander has pitched to a 2.96 ERA (3.52 FIP) over 124.2 innings this season. He also has a 56.3% groundball rate. While that number sits a touch below his career norms, it places second among all qualified starting pitchers.

The Bombers, however, aren’t knocking down the Blue Jays’ door for the 28-year-old. According to Martino, the Yanks aren’t the most active team on the Stroman front. This jives with what Sherman said earlier in the week. “They have not pursued him with the same ardor as J.A. Happ last year,” he explains, “and the Blue Jays like other contenders’ farm systems better.”

A rumor surfaced earlier that Toronto was prepared to extend the right-hander, but he shot that idea down himself. I fully expect him to get traded before the deadline. Stroman feels like such an obvious fit that it won’t happen.

Giants prepared to hold on to Bumgarner, if not buy

Have you paid attention to the Giants lately? They’ve gone 8-2 over their last 10 games, and 16-4 on the month. San Francisco sits just 3.5 games back of the NL Wild Card, and they appear ready to go for it. Entering the season, they figured to be the trade deadline’s clearinghouse. Now they’re contemplating buying. Something, something can’t predict baseball.

Mark Feinsand reports that the Giants are prepared to keep Madison Bumgarner. The southpaw has pitched to a 3.66 ERA (3.61 FIP) across 132.2 innings this season. Over his last six starts, however, he owns a 2.00 ERA (1.89 FIP) with a 10.25 K/9 rate. The Yankees were reportedly “lukewarm” on Bumgarner last week, but now it looks like he’s off the table all together.