Three takeaways from the Yankees at the trade deadline

PHILADELPHIA — Three Yankees takeaways from the trade deadline:

1. The roster is better than it was. By all objective measures, general manager Brian Cashman accomplished what ultimately is the goal of any baseball ops leader for a contending team this time of year: improve. Neither the uber-athletic utility man Jazz Chisholm Jr. nor righty relievers Mark Leiter Jr. and Enyel De Los Santos were the big names Yankees fans wanted, but each addressed glaring needs. A lineup that had been foundering since mid-June needed a productive bat, preferably from the left side, and another threat on the bases. Chisholm staying focused long-term was an issue during his time with the Marlins, but being in the same clubhouse as Aaron Judge, as well as a desire to show himself as the All-Star caliber player he believes himself to be, should help in that regard. He enthusiastically took on the challenge of playing third base for the first time in his professional career on Monday night. In the case of the two relievers, both give the bullpen something it lacked – swing and miss stuff.

2. The Yankees failed to make a big splash but so, too, did the Orioles. The Orioles, who came into Wednesday just a half-game ahead of the Yankees in the AL East, are, along with the Yankees, considered the class of a league that, top to bottom, isn’t very good. Among Baltimore’s flurry of deadline acquisitions were pitchers Zach Eflin, Seranthony Domínguez, Trevor Rogers, Gregory Soto and slugger Eloy Jiménez. But, like the Yankees, they didn’t land what anyone would think of as a difference-maker in terms of vaulting them to the status of World Series favorite. They’re better, as are the Yankees, but not dramatically so. Cashman said on Wednesday that he was "engaged to the very end" of the trade deadline when it came to starting pitching, including trying to get Tigers righthander Jack Flaherty, whom the GM called an “exceptional” pitcher, and certainly would have qualified as a marquee name. Cashman, however, said he could not “match up” with Detroit when it came to players to be exchanged. The Yankees’ failure to land Flaherty, whose medicals (lower back) were a concern to the Yankees but did not dissuade them from pursuing him, resulted in the Dodgers acquiring the righthander instead.

3. The corners could be a problem. Chisholm, whose lefty bat has made an immediate impact, had never played third base in his professional career before doing so Monday night. He handled everything hit his way and in the two games that followed the 26-year-old has made every play he should make and even some that a more established third baseman would make. Ben Rice, drafted as a catcher, has been the full-time first baseman since Anthony Rizzo was lost in mid-June with a right arm fracture. He, like Chisholm, is learning a new position in real-time at the big-league level, something that would be less than ideal for a non-contending team let alone one with pennant aspirations and expectations. “That’s a hell of a roll of the dice,” one rival AL scout said of the corner infield situation. It might not bite the Yankees, especially if both swing the bats well, which almost always covers defensive deficiencies, but it could.