Pirates take chance on trade for broken Yankees reliever, surrender 2 prospects

The rumors, apparently, were true all along. After Pittsburgh's interest in Yankees reliever Camilo Doval surfaced a few days back, the two sides are reportedly close to completing a trade on Saturday afternoon, 48 hours ahead of the official MLB trade deadline on Monday night at 6:00 PM EST.

ESPN's Jeff Passan had the news drop first, while The Athletic insider Ken Rosenthal quickly followed up by noting that the trade, while close, remains in the medical review stage.

Per reports, the two "prospects" involved in the pending transaction are catcher Omar Alfonzo and Luis Cruz. Alfonzo is MLB Pipeline's No. 17 prospect in Pittsburgh's system.

Just one year ago, Doval was one of the trade deadline's underrated gems, a former Giants All-Star closer in need of saving swiped just ahead of the buzzer and inserted into the Yankees' pitching lab. Over the past year, things have ... not gone well for Doval under the bright lights, which all began with a blown save in Miami in his Yankees debut, and has resulted in a 4.54 ERA/4.61 FIP this year. He was demoted and banned from high-leverage work at the start of the summer.

The Pirates bank on years of control vs. current reality in Camilo Doval trade with Yankees

Doval's slider has been his least consistent offering in the Bronx (or, uh, most consistently terrible, if you prefer). The Pirates' lab, on the other hand, has done a phenomenal job reshaping sweepers in recent years, even turning fellow Yankees retread Dennis Santana into a temporary closer last year.

The Buccos will now have 1.5 seasons with Doval in their grasp in an attempt to reshape his pitches and harness his 100+ MPH fastball/cutter with excellent movement. It makes almost no sense that he was eminently hittable in the Bronx - to be fair, his defense often did him no favors and helped untie his shoelaces - but the fact remains he's still an unknown and erratic quantity. What the Pirates need is certainty, in addition to electricity. Doval is an interesting lottery ticket, but for their sake, he cannot be their endpoint.

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