Why Luis Garcia Jr. is Yankees' best trade deadline pickup in 'decades'

... Why Luis Garcia Jr. is Yankees' best trade deadline pickup in 'decades' originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here. Before the Major League Baseball trade deadline, the New York Yankees badly needed an offensive upgrade. Without Aaron Judge, New York's lineup was one of the worst in the Majors. That's why the Yankees targeted Luis Garcia Jr. from the Washington Nationals, who led the National League in slugging percentage at the time of the trade. With Ben Rice and Paul Goldschmidt on the roster, the first baseman was an imperfect fit, Bleacher Report's Joel Reuter wrote. "That was my take on the Luis García Jr. trade at the time, and questions about how his first base/second base defensive profile would fit on a roster without glaring holes at those positions were reasonable," Reuter wrote. Since the trade, Garcia has been one of the best hitters in New York's lineup. MORE: Don Mattingly has uncertain future with Phillies in managerial job He's batting .292/.337/.500 for a 130 OPS+ and five homers in 26 games with the Yankees. "The question is no longer how he fits, but where the Yankees would be without him. The last time a deadline pickup had such a profound impact might be all the way back to David Justice in 2000," Reuter added. With Giancarlo Stanton presumably out for the season, and Judge still rehabbing from his fractured rib, it seems that the Garcia trade was a smart one by the Yankees. Astros' Yordan Alvarez has chance to join two MLB legends with very rare history Bo Bichette likely not to opt out of Mets $42 million contract Jose Berrios 'extremely unlikely' to opt out of $48 million deal with Blue Jays Edmundo Sosa's Grand Slam gives Phillies crazy home-run statistic for 2026 season Dodgers get concerning update on Shohei Ohtani as he's not 100% yet