On July 26th, the Yankees swapped prospects Diego Castillo and Hoy Jun Park to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Clay Holmes, a relatively unknown reliever with dismal career stats but surprisingly intriguing peripherals. To be entirely transparent, I had never even heard the name Clay Holmes before the news of the trade broke, so I simply thought that this was a little throwaway deal that would end up meaning very little in the long run.
Boy, was I ever wrong. Fast-forward three months, and suddenly Holmes found himself pitching in massive spots down the stretch for a playoff contender as his downright dominant performances firmly entrenched himself in manager Aaron Boone’s circle of trust.