Yankees acquire lefty starter Ryan Weathers from Marlins

It’s been 97 days since the Yankees were eliminated in Game 4 of the ALDS by the eventual pennant-winning Toronto Blue Jays. While the Yankees have done some minor housekeeping in the offseason, they have yet to add an external player who isn’t a waiver claim, on a minor-league deal, or dealing with Rule 5 shenanigans. That changed, however, on Tuesday night.

Per the YES Network’s Jack Curry, the Yankees are acquiring left-handed pitcher Ryan Weathers from the Miami Marlins in exchange for four prospects. Marlins reporter Craig Mish was first on the four prospects being moved: outfielders Dillon Lewis and Brendan Jones, and infielders Dylan Jasso and Juan Matheus.

Weathers is a former No. 7 overall pick by the Padres back in 2018 out of Loretto High School in Tennessee. After a solid full-season in A-ball in 2019, he made the Padres’ Opening Day roster in 2021, skipping the top three levels of the minor leagues and throwing 94.2 innings across 30 appearances (18 starts), struggling to a 5.32 ERA. After realizing they rushed one of their top prospects, the Padres sent him back to Triple-A in 2022, where he spent nearly the entire season aside from one MLB spot start in May. Weathers struggled again in the majors in 2023 before being shipped to Miami for former Yankees first baseman Garrett Cooper at the 2023 Trade Deadline.

Entering the 2024 season, Weathers’ luster had gone away with a 5.88 ERA in 156 innings in his career, but he found something in Miami. His fastball velocity steadily increased, going from 95.1 in 2023 to 96.8 in 2025, and his approach was refined to throw fewer four-seamers and more sinkers. It’s allowed him to throw 125 innings of sub-4 ERA ball with a 4.26 FIP, and an improved strikeout-to-walk ratio (15.2 K-BB%).

The hang-up since Weathers has been in Miami, however, is injuries. He missed three months with an index finger strain in 2024 and missed time with both a forearm and lat strain in 2025, limiting him to a total of 24 starts in two seasons.

There’s potential for Weathers to work out of the bullpen (like his right-handed father David, a 1996 World Series champion with the Yanks), but he currently figures to be part of a rotation that Brian Cashman has been scrambling to find upgrades to. With Max Fried, Cam Schlittler, Luis Gil, and Will Warren currently penciled into the Opening Day rotation with Gerrit Cole, Clarke Schmidt, and Carlos Rodón due to miss the start of the season, Weathers likely slides Ryan Yarbrough into the bullpen — assuming no other moves are made. What happens when the calvary returns will depend on how he fares, and who happens to be healthy at the time. The rotation insurance is key.

Weathers will make $1.35 million in 2026 and has two further years of arbitration remaining, becoming a free agent after the 2028 campaign. He also has a minor-league option remaining, giving the Yankees valuable flexibility in case of a roster crunch.

As for the prospects heading to Miami, MLB Pipeline ranks Jones and Lewis as the Yankees’ No. 15 and No. 16 prospects, as well as Jasso at No. 23. Jones stole 51 bases across High-A and Double-A in 2025 while boasting a .359 OBP. Lewis went 20/20 at High-A Hudson Valley in 2025. Both were selected in the back-half of the team’s 2024 draft, and Baseball America was even a little higher on Lewis, ranking him eighth in the organization.

Jasso was an undrafted free agent out of New Mexico Junior College in 2023 and had been a consistent presence for Double-A Somerset for the past year and a half. He made BA’s Top 30, while Matheus was on the outside looking in; the latter hit .275 with 40 stolen bases in A-ball in 2025.

We’ll have more to come, but in the meantime, welcome a second Weathers to New York!