With a surprise trade late Friday, the Yankees added a powerful bullpen arm, trimmed the payroll a bit and lost an elite pitch framer.

Jose Trevino, an All-Star in 2022 and one of the game’s best at making balls look like strikes, was sent to the Reds for right winger Fernando Cruz and catcher Alex Jackson.

After breaking out in his first season with the Yankees when he was traded from the Rangers at the end of spring training, Trevino suffered most of the injuries in 2023 and lost his starting job in 2024 as Austin Wells emerged as the man who appears to be the Yankees’ future. Catch position.

Trevino was owed about $3.5 million in arbitration for 2025, which will be his walk year, and the Yankees can do cheaper with a backup and redirect the money elsewhere.

Jackson, a 28-year-old journeyman whom the Reds signed to a minor league contract, is highly regarded defensively but has never scored in five major league seasons.

Cruz is the more significant part of the trade.

The Yankees’ bullpen often struggled to pile up strikeouts last season, and Cruz has no problems missing bats.

Cruz relied heavily on his splitter, yielding 109 hits in 66 ²/₃ innings (14.72 per nine innings) last season.

He also walked 35 and posted a 4.86 ERA, making him another project for pitching coach Matt Blake.

Cruz, a three-year major league player, is 34 years old but hasn’t even reached arbitration yet.

He is eligible to be optioned to the minor leagues for several years, and the Yankees have four years of contractual control.

In this trade, the Yankees likely traded for a higher cap hit but gave away a high-floor player in Trevino.

Pitchers like to throw to Trevino, who excels at framing and blocking potentially wild pitches but has a throwing arm that was often exposed last season.

At the top, Trevino had not yet reached the heights of his first half of ’22, owning a .611 OPS in ’23 and ’24.