Coming into the season, the question was not “will the Yankees get a starter at the deadline?” The question was “which starter will they get?” It was a damn near certainly the Yankees would get another starting pitcher, especially after Jordan Montgomery went down with Tommy John surgery and Sonny Gray stayed healthy but went full Javy Vazquez. The need for another starter was clear.
A no-doubt ace never hit the market. Jacob deGrom was never really available and calling Chris Archer an ace at this point is a bit of a stretch. That was a bummer for the Yankees, who had the prospect capital to get pretty much any player they wanted.