The Yankees now have a bona fide closer, but the team’s prospect pool got thinner in the process.
Yankees catching prospects Rafael Flores and Edgleen Perez, along with outfield prospect Brian Sanchez, are heading to the Pirates in exchange for veteran closer David Bednar, The Post’s Jon Heyman reported Thursday.
Flores, 24, was ranked as the Yankees’ eighth-best prospect on MLB Pipeline’s list.
He was terrific in 87 games with Double-A Somerset, hitting .287 with a .842 OPS and 15 homers, and played 10 games with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes Barre before the trade.
The Yankees picked up Flores, an Anaheim, Calif., native who played at Rio Hondo College, as an undrafted free agent in 2022.
Perez, a native of Venezuela, was the Yankees’ 14th-best prospect, according to MLB Pipeline, and is just 19 years old. He hit .209 with 26 RBIs in 83 games for the Yankees’ Single-A affiliate.
Sanchez, not in the MLB Pipeline’s top-30 prospect ranking, is a lefty bat hitting .281 in 242 at-bats in Single-A.
Shortly after, the Yankees fortified their bullpen further by acquiring reliever Jake Bird from the Rockies in exchange for top-30 prospects infielder Roc Riggio (10) and left-handed pitcher Ben Shields (28), according to ESPN’s Jeff Passan.
Bednar is one of several closers to have been traded at this year’s deadline so far.
The Phillies shipped top-100 prospects Mick Abel and Eduardo Tait for Twins closer Jhoan Duran on Wednesday, and the Padres acquired closer Mason Miller and starter JP Sears, from the Athletics for a hefty prospect package that included shortstop Leo De Vries, the third-best prospect in baseball, according to MLB Pipeline.
The Tigers also acquired closer Kyle Finnegan in exchange for two minor leaguers on Thursday, and the Mets traded for late-inning reliever Ryan Helsley Wednesday, sending the Cardinals infield prospect Jesus Baez and a pair of minor league pitchers.
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