Yankees Shore Up Infield, Acquire Drury From Diamondbacks In 3-Team Trade
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- The Yankees acquired second baseman Brandon Drury in a three-way trade Tuesday, adding a veteran presence to an otherwise mostly inexperienced infield.
Drury, 25, comes to the the Yankees from the Arizona Diamondbacks, where he spent the first two-plus seasons of his career. New York gave up two prospects in the deal -- right-handed pitcher Taylor Widener is going to Arizona, and second baseman Nick Solak to the Tampa Bay Rays.
The Diamondbacks also acquired outfielder Steven Souza, who hit 30 home runs last season, from Tampa Bay. The Rays also received pitching prospect Anthony Banda from Arizona.
Drury batted .267 with 13 home runs and 63 RBIs last season. As a rookie in 2016, he hit .282 with 16 homers.
Drury played predominantly at second base last season, although he has seen action in dozens of games at third base and in the outfield, too, in his young career.
Before the trade, Miguel Andujar and Gleyber Torres were widely believed to be the favorites to win the Yankees' starting third and second basemen jobs, respectively. However, Yankees general manager Brian Cashman had expressed reservations about chasing a world title while starting two rookie infielders.
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Solak, 23, was the Yankees' second-round draft pick in 2016 and was rated by MLB.com as the eighth-best prospect in their farm system. He hit a combined .297 with 12 homers and 53 RBIs for Class A Tampa and Double-A Trenton last season.
Widener, a 12th-round draft pick in 2016, was the Yankees' No. 14 prospect, according to MLB.com. The 23-year-old starter was 7-8 with a 3.39 ERA with Tampa last season.
To make room on their 40-man roster for Drury, the Yankees designated outfielder Jabari Blash for assignment.
