The New York Yankees acquired outfielder/second baseman Dustin Ackley from the Seattle Mariners in exchange for pitcher Ramon Flores and AAA pitcher Jose Ramirez.
Ackley was drafted by the Mariners with the 2nd overall pick of the 2009 MLB Draft. He made his Major League Debut in 2011 and has played for the Mariners for all of his 5 seasons. He was the their second baseman until Robinson Cano joined the Mariners last sesaon.
The Yankees are currently in first place by 6 games with the second best record in the American League. They have been hot lately, winning 8 of their last 10. They are looking to get in to the playoffs and possibly even earn their 28th World Series championship.
Ackley has not had a great season at the plate thus far, but he has had a solid July at this point. He is hitting .286 with a .802 OPS this month. He will be replacing light hitting second baseman Stephen Drew, who hit .162 last season and is hitting .194 this season.
The Yankees are not done trading. They are now looking for a starting pitcher and possibly a closer. The field of starting pitchers is getting smaller, with Johnny Cueto, Cole Hamels, and David Price already changing teams. There are still a couple of closers out there, including Craig Kimbrel, that they can bring in since Dellin Betances could not get the job done.
Ackley is arbitration eligible after this season and will not be a free agent until 2018.
All trades are pending medical reviews.
Statistics are courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com and MLB.com.
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