The 2026 MLB trade deadline is 6 p.m. ET on Monday, Aug. 3, which means it is only days away. and the actual trades are starting to come across. On Saturday afternoon, the and hooked up for a deal that sends some sorely needed bullpen help to Pittsburgh.
Here are the full details of the trade as reported by the :
Doval, 29, was part of New York’s trade deadline haul last summer. It hasn’t worked out for him with the Yankees, though. He owns a 4.63 ERA since the trade, including a 4.54 ERA in 39 ⅔ innings this season. Doval had fallen out of manager Aaron Boone’s Circle of Trust and has been working lower-leverage innings. He was an obvious change-of-scenery trade candidate.
Alfonso, 22, is a Double-A catcher who MLB Pipeline ranks as . Cruz, 18, is currently playing in the Dominican Summer League. He does not rank among the Pirates’ top prospects. Here now are our grades for this 2-for-1 swap.
As poorly as Doval has pitched for the Yankees, he’s still slinging 101 mph cutters and getting ground balls at an elite clip (57.1%). His expected ERA, which factors in contact quality allowed (exit velocity, etc.), is a more impressive 3.61. That’s not amazing, but it suggests Doval is not a lost cause. He has arm talent and pedigree as a former All-Star closer with the .
As an added bonus, the Pirates received enough cash to all but $750,000 of the $2 million or so remaining on Doval’s 2026 salary, and he will remain under team control as an arbitration-eligible player in 2027. He’s not a rental and he’s inexpensive both in terms of salary and the prospect cost. There’s quite a bit of upside and the cost was more than reasonable.
Given the state of Pittsburgh’s bullpen, it’s easy to understand why they’d target Doval and ultimately buy low on him. Here are the numbers on the team’s bullpen.
ERA
4.38 (23rd in MLB)
xERA
4.33 (23rd)
Ground ball rate
40.2% (22nd)
WAR
2.2 (18th)
Doval will presumably join lefties and , and righty , in manager Don Kelly’s late-inning mix. The Pirates have gone closer by committee recently, and if Doval strings a few good outings together, he could take the job outright. Bottom line, Pittsburgh badly needed bullpen help and the front office brought in a hard-throwing ground ball machine.
The fit and upside, as well as the prospect cost, make this an A trade for me. An aggressive grade? Yeah, maybe, but there are still things to like under the hood with Doval, and it won’t take much for him to improve Pittsburgh’s relief crew. Doval will frustrate you, for sure, but there’s a really good reliever in there waiting to be unlocked. It didn’t happen with the Yankees. It may with the Pirates.
Getting anything for Doval qualifies as a good trade for the Yankees. There were a few times within the last week or two when it appeared they might designate him for assignment and call up a different reliever, but the Yankees held onto him and hoped to find a trade. They found one that gave them some salary relief and two lower-ranked prospects.
Alfonzo, the more notable of the two prospects, is hitting .239/.338/.420 at Double-A. He is said to be rough around the edges defensively. The Yankees might be the best catcher defense development team in baseball, so Alfonso is up their alley. Cruz is a long-shot prospect in rookie ball. New York is hoping it landed a breakout player before he breaks out.
The Yankees traded four prospects to the Giants for Doval at the last deadline and had to turn around and trade him for two prospects this deadline, and pay part of his salary to do it. It was clear Doval was not going to be part of their bullpen, let alone assume important innings, the rest of this year. Not sure what else to give them than a C. Now the Yankees will look to add to their team.
