Yankees trade Jordan Montgomery to Cardinals for Harrison Bader

The Yankees are using their pitching depth to address their need in center field – though they won’t reap the benefits immediately.

Ahead of Tuesday’s 6 p.m. trade deadline, the Yankees were set to acquire outfielder Harrison Bader from the Cardinals in exchange for left-hander Jordan Montgomery, The Post’s Joel Sherman reported.

Bader will give the Yankees a strong defensive center fielder, as they look to shift Aaron Judge back to right field more often over the final two months of the regular season. But the Bronxville native has been on the injured list since late June with plantar fasciitis and is currently in a walking boot for one to two weeks, according to reports, putting him out of play for at least a few more weeks.

The 28-year-old Bader is under contract through next season. In 72 games this year, he was slashing .256/.303/.370 with 15 steals.

Montgomery, who is also under contract through 2023, had a strong start to the season but had been shakier of late to raise his ERA to 3.69 across 21 starts.

The Yankees acquired right-handed starter Frankie Montas from the Athletics on Monday, and he will presumably take Montgomery’s spot in the rotation. He is not expected to join the Yankees until this weekend in St. Louis, though, after tending to a death in the family.

Montgomery’s departure means Domingo German could stick in the rotation, barring any other last-minute trades on Tuesday, until Luis Severino (lat strain) is eligible to come off the 60-day IL in mid-September.