TAMPA — The Yankees finalize their roster while facing a problem common to all clubs: balancing the best possible 26-man roster combination while maintaining organizational depth. Assembling a jigsaw puzzle.
Most of the time, they let what happened in front of them dictate their direction. Lewis Gil pitched as well as anyone as the fifth starting pitcher, but his upside is probably the best as well. This essentially leaves two bullpen spots for Clayton Beater, Nick Vardy, and Dennis Santana.
The Yankees will open the season with seven games in seven days, but they do not have enough starting pitchers. Therefore, you will probably need to carry more than one long man. Luke Weaver would be one of them. The Yanks will see if they can keep Jonathan Loaisiga healthy by starting him for two innings and then giving him a few days off. But he’s still traditionally part of their endgame. Therefore, you will need another multi-inning his type.
Santana made a good impression on the Yankees from the beginning of camp. But Santana doesn’t have a choice. So committing to him means, well, really committing to him. That means the Yanks will have to remove a reliever when Tommy Kahnle (shoulder) returns, likely around the Cleveland Series starting April 12th. If Santana is the reliever removed, it would likely mean losing him on waivers due to the need for a pitcher throughout the game. .
Santana is on a minor league contract and doesn’t have an opt-out until July 1, so the Yankees could let him go and delay a decision. In that scenario, the beater could be kept for a few weeks before returning to the Triple-A rotation. Bourdy was also a non-roster invitee and had impressive numbers, with four outs in Sunday’s game against the Pirates as the Yankees wanted the often-injured right-hander to be able to pitch more than an inning. was asked to take it.
Bourdi will opt out from April 15th. But he also has options. So if he gets on the roster, and by extension the 40-man roster, he becomes an option player if the Yanks need him in a way that Santana cannot.
But you get the idea. With so many variables, his 13-man limit on major league pitching rosters and his frightening injury frequency, organizations are most obsessed with retaining quality replacement pitchers. For example, a team that needs 25 pitchers throughout the season is in the bottom of the league but is blessed. The Yanks used 30 pitchers last year.
This brings in two relief pitchers who are not on the current roster. Scott Efros and Lou Trivino are in a strange land, having spent all six weeks with their teammates and then saying goodbye for months on Monday. Both players missed last season after undergoing Tommy John surgery and are still recovering, although Efros’ recovery was complicated by needing hip surgery in December.
“I was a little disappointed after spending the whole summer there.” [last year] I don’t want to be around a team that sucks,” Trivino said. “And then once you get in here and meet everyone and become a part of something, it just gets the rug pulled out from under you. But at the same time, you know where you are right now, and it’s a roller coaster of emotions. We also need to not get on board. Our goal is to meet them and help them achieve their goal together of winning in October.”
Efros and Trivino (and his wife) have become friends as they were acquired simultaneously in separate deals at the 2022 trade deadline and have continued to rehabilitate together. Efros and Trivino fall into the familiar bucket of relievers Brian Cashman acquired in the deadline. Heck, Cashman did it in 2016 — the only time the Yanks were sellers in a season during Steinbrenner’s ownership — when Aroldis Chapman and Andrew Miller were traded. Not only that, but they also acquired Tyler Clippard and Adam Warren to boost their non-playoff hopes.
Even when the Yanks didn’t really like Chance last year, they acquired Middleton, a Kenyan, in a trade. And the years when Cashman liked his team included mid-season transfers of relievers like Kahnle, David Robertson, Zach Britton and, yes, Efros and Trivino.
In the most ideal scenario, Efros and Trivino would start the 60-day IL and return in the summer, keeping the Yankees out of the relief trade market. Time may have forgotten, but Efros was one of the best relievers in MLB in 2022, but he missed the playoffs and required Tommy John surgery. Then, in December of this year, he needed back surgery. He is playing catch and aims to be on the mound in April.
Trivino, who arrived in the trade for the ill-fated Frankie Montas, underwent Tommy John surgery last May, but was non-tendered and re-signed after the season. He’s already been off the mound a few times.
Neither wanted to be bound by a timeline, and neither did Cashman. Efros said: “It’s great to have a partner in this and someone to celebrate the little wins along the way. But we both have the idea that we don’t have to be back by a certain date.” ”
And one small problem is knowing the Yanks can get both back next year — Efros is considering his first arbitration season and Trivino has a team option — while the Yanks have There are several key relievers such as Clay Holmes, Jonathan Loaisiga, and Kahnle. Year.
Ah, that’s next season’s jigsaw puzzle.
