Yankees Trade Rumors: Athletics Interested in Sonny Gray, Estevan Florial Swap

The Oakland Athletics have reportedly set their sights on New York Yankees outfield prospect Estevan Florial if the Yanks want to acquire A's ace Sonny Gray before the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline.

On Tuesday, Jon Morosi of MLB Network reported Oakland is "prioritizing" a center field prospect if it's going to move Gray before next week, and Florial is on the list of possible targets.

The 19-year-old Haiti native is the No. 5 prospect in the Yankees organization, per MLB.com. He's posted a .293/.372/.485 triple-slash line with 16 stolen bases and 11 home runs through 86 appearances for the Charleston RiverDogs, a Class A affiliate, this year.

Florial, who's got the potential to become a well-rounded asset with speed, pop and defense once he works his way through the minors, told Joe Dixon of Pinstriped Prospects in May the Yankees were his favorite franchise even before he signed his first contract in 2015.

"That was great. I was very happy because before I was signed that was my favorite team," he said. "That was so great, it was amazing."

Florial added: "The Yankees staff is great. It's unbelievable. We have been working on a lot of stuff like hitting, running the bases, all this stuff, a lot of stuff going on."

Now New York must consider whether it would move the high-upside teenager to acquire an instant-impact asset such as Gray before the deadline.

The Athletics ace has returned to form this season with a 3.66 ERA and 1.18 WHIP with 85 strikeouts in 91 innings across 15 starts. He posted a career-worst 5.69 ERA last year.

While Gray's 2016 struggles add risk to a trade equation, the Yankees may be forced to take a chance due to Masahiro Tanaka's 5.37 ERA and Michael Pineda's season-ending injury.

In addition, Gray is under team control for two more years of arbitration, per Spotrac. That does give him more value than a typical deadline rental.