Yankees Acquire Elmer Rodriguez-Cruz In Trade With Red Sox

Image credit: RHP Elmer Rodriguez-Cruz (Photo by Tom Priddy/Four Seam Images)

Trades between the Red Sox and Yankees typically aren’t very common, but they seem to be happening more often, and the two sides synced on a small deal once again Wednesday evening. The Yankees sent backup catcher Carlos Narvaez to Boston in exchange for 21-year-old RHP Elmer Rodriguez-Cruz and international bonus pool space in the current signing period.

Narvaez, 26, made his big league debut in 2024, hitting .231 in six games with the Yankees. He did not rank among New York’s Top 30 prospects, but his defense gets positive reviews. He spent most of 2024 with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, where he hit .254/.370/.412.

Rodriguez-Cruz was set to rank in the back half of the Red Sox Top 30 Prospects entering 2025. He reached High-A Greenville in 2024, pitching to a 2.91 ERA with 102 strikeouts in 89.2 innings between both Class A levels. He is the fifth prospect Boston dealt away on Wednesday following the massive Garrett Crochet deal earlier this afternoon.

This is now the third trade between the two sides over the last four years. Boston dealt Alex Verdugo to the Yankees last winter, and they acquired reliever Adam Ottavino from New York in 2021. The Red Sox also plucked RHP Garrett Whitlock away from the Yankees in the 2020 Rule 5 Draft.

YANKEES RECEIVE

Elmer Rodriguez-Cruz, RHP
Age: 21

Cruz’s 89.2 innings in 2024 were the most he’s thrown in his career. The Red Sox have built him up slowly after he dealt with forearm inflammation in 2023. The lean righthander saw his velocity spike in 2024, and his four-seam fastball now sits around 95 mph and tops out at 99. While the shape of the pitch is still a work-in-progress, the added velocity helped him attack the strike zone with more assertiveness. He also throws a solid, low-80s swing-and-miss slider, as well as a curveball and a changeup. Rodriguez-Cruz has back-of-the-rotation upside if he continues to develop his arsenal, and the newfound power sets a relief floor as a fallback.

RED SOX RECEIVE

Carlos Narvaez, C
Age: 26

Narvaez provides the Red Sox another backup catching option as they look to find a partner alongside incumbent Connor Wong. Danny Jansen, who the club acquired at the trade deadline, signed with the Rays earlier this offseason. Kyle Teel, who looked in line to reach the majors in 2025, was shipped to the White Sox as the lead piece in the Crochet trade. Narvaez, of course, doesn’t offer the same amount of upside, but he provides a solid option on the strength of impressive defensive chops. A cousin of catcher Omar Narvaez, Carlos was the best defensive catcher in the Yankees’ system entering 2024, and his framing graded out positively this season. His bat, however, is more of a question mark. Narvaez’s 105.2 mph 90th percentile exit velocity is above-average for his age, but he missed roughly 31% of the time, blunting his overall impact.