What the acquisition of Greg Allen could mean for the New York Yankees

The New York Yankees remained in the mix in the conversation of top teams in the league. However, they still have significant needs to fill, namely two starting pitchers and re-signing DJ LeMahieu.  There was a move made, which some may consider minor when the Yankees made a trade with the Padres for outfielder Greg Allen.

In exchange for Allen, the New York Yankees gave up minor-league relief pitcher James Reeves. Greg Allen had only 4 hits in 26 at-bats last year for the Indians and Padres. Allen has a good chance of making the roster come Opening Day. The reason is the seemingly small budget the Yankees have and could mean the last of veteran Brett Gardner in a Yankees uniform.

The 37-year-old Gardner is looking to return to the New York Yankees. He’s played his entire career in the Yankees organization but struggled to a .233 average in his 13^th Major League season last year.   Gardner’s agent Joe Bick indicated that Gardner was under the impression that the Yankees would approach him for come back for the 2021 season, but it hasn’t happened. As for the participants in the trade, James Reeves has performed well, despite not being among the top prospects in the Yankees organization. He had a 2.30 ERA with 350 strikeouts in 293 1/3 innings. In 2019 with Double-A Trenton, Reeves posted a 1.87 ERA in 33 games, averaging 11 strikeouts per nine innings.

Greg Allen has been a career backup in the Major Leagues to this point. He’s a .239 hitter with eight home runs and 57 RBI in 221 games since his Major League career. One thing Allen can bring is his speed on the bases, as he swiped 21 bases in 25 attempts in 91 games in the 2018 season.