With a few pitchers working their way back from injuries, another roster crunch could be coming to the Yankees’ bullpen.
Ryan Yarbrough and Fernando Cruz each started rehab assignments at Triple-A on Thursday after suffering oblique strains in June. Meanwhile, Jonathan Loáisiga recently began throwing after going on the injured list with back tightness on Aug. 3.
It’s possible that all three are ready to come off the IL before rosters expand on Sept. 1. In which case, some choices would have to be made if no other injuries occur.
“If we get to a spot where all eight guys in the bullpen are performing and we got three healthy guys coming off the IL, then we got some hard decisions to make,” Yankees pitching coach Matt Blake told the Daily News. “But in the short term, I’m not too worried about it yet.”
There are a few ways the Yankees could navigate this crowding.
Two active relievers in their pen, Yerry De los Santos and Brent Headrick, have been considered expendable all season due to their minor league options. Headrick has pitched well since his last promotion, though, taking an 0.93 ERA over six games into Friday’s series-opener in St. Louis.
De los Santos, meanwhile, had a 2.51 ERA over 28.2 big league innings this season, though he allowed three earned runs and didn’t record an out in Wednesday’s loss to the Twins.
Headrick could be swapped out for Yarbrough, a fellow lefty, while Cruz could replace De los Santos.
But what about Loáisiga, who doesn’t have an obvious counterpart for a corresponding move?
On Tuesday, Aaron Boone was specifically asked if the righty could come off the IL within the next two weeks, a timeline that would run its course prior to September roster expansion.
“Yeah, I think so,” the manager replied. “He should be in play for that anytime starting pretty soon, just because he wasn’t down very long. So we’ll decide if we want to get him live in a game and for how long. But yeah, he should be close.”
Re-signed as a free agent following elbow surgery, Loáisiga has not pitched well this season. An oft-injured but electric late-inning reliever at times throughout his career, he posted a 4.25 ERA over 29.2 innings while surrendering a career-high seven home runs. He did record five straight scoreless innings over seven appearances before his injury, though.
In the event of a crunch, the Yankees could simply cut Loáisiga, who can become a free agent this winter. The club has a $5 million team option on him.
But Yarbrough’s swingman status is another wrinkle that could help the Yankees avoid losing an arm.
Signed as a reliever at the end of spring training, the funky southpaw shined as a rotation replacement earlier this season. With the Yankees’ rotation depth limited, Boone said Yarbrough is building up “kind of like a starter” on his rehab assignment, even though Blake has said that he could serve as an additional lefty in the bullpen.
Boone said that he doesn’t know how long Yarbrough’s rehab assignment will last or what his role will be when he returns. While it’s hard to see the junk-balling Yarbrough replacing any current members of the Yankees’ rotation — barring an injury — stretching the veteran out to a complete starter’s workload could push his rehab assignment to September, when rosters expand.
Yarbrough started at Triple-A on Thursday, allowing one earned run over three innings and 37 pitches.
“We start the [rehab] clock officially now, so we’ll see where we are just need-wise and how he’s doing, how he’s responding,” Boone said Wednesday, hinting at some wiggle room.
One option that Blake said the Yankees have not discussed — at least not with the coach — is moving on from Devin Williams, an impending free agent.
Cutting Williams might be a popular idea among fans after he lost the closer’s job twice this season and recently cost the Yankees a few games, but Blake still believes the two-time National League Reliever of the Year can make an impact on a team fighting to reach the playoffs.
Blake said Williams’ recent struggles — he had a 7.90 ERA, three losses and two blown saves from July 2 to Aug. 8 before throwing two scoreless, low-leverage innings this week — are similar to what he went through earlier this season, when he lost the closer’s title the first time. At that point, Williams began calling his own pitches on PitchCom, a decision that initially yielded strong results.
Blake said that he is comfortable with Williams continuing to call his own pitches, as the usage is “largely the same” as what the Yankees want to see from him.
“It’s really more about just the execution,” Blake said, noting that Williams’ fastball command “comes and goes a little bit” and that he’s thrown too many of his signature changeups “in the big part of the zone to lefties.”
“Ultimately, Devin’s one of the best pitchers in the league when he’s right, so it’s on us to help him get back to being that version of himself,” Blake added. “Ultimately, that’s what we gotta work to do in the short-term at least.”
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