The Yankees are closing in on their first big league signing of the offseason, as the team is in agreement with Ryan Yarbrough on a one-year contract, a source confirmed with the Daily News.
Terms of the pact were unclear at the time of publication. FanSided’s Robert Murray first reported the deal, which is still pending a physical.
The Yankees checked in on Yarbrough last week, and there was mutual interest between the two sides after the swingman spent the 2025 season in the Bronx, so the reunion is no surprise. That’s especially true with all the moving parts in the Yankees’ rotation, as Yarbrough, a career swingman, offers depth and flexibility with Gerrit Cole, Carlos Rodón and Clarke Schmidt all starting the 2026 season on the injured list.
Yarbrough provided just that last season, signing with the Yankees toward the end of spring training for $2 million plus incentives. The lefty began the year as a reliever before joining a battered rotation and recording a 3.83 ERA over eight starts between May and June. The junk-balling side-armer then suffered an oblique strain before returning to the Yankees’ bullpen and being left off the team’s postseason rosters.
Yarbrough finished the 2025 season with a 4.36 ERA over 64 innings. A former Ray, Royal, Dodger and Blue Jay, he owns a 4.22 ERA over eight major league seasons and 215 games.
He’s made 76 starts in his career.
Recently, Brian Cashman said that he will “have to make sure there’s room on the roster” when Rodón returns from surgery for loose bodies in his elbow. Barring any setbacks, he is expected to make his season debut in April or early May. The Yankees also hope to have Cole back in the early going of the 2026 season after he underwent Tommy John surgery last spring.
Schmidt is looking at a second-half return after undergoing his own Tommy John operation.
“We have pitching depth, but it’s going to be challenged early,” Cashman added last week while also acknowledging that more injuries can occur, especially during spring training and the early parts of the season. “Hopefully, health is blessed early in the rotation as well… but you can’t count on that. So of course, we’ll be exploring how to protect ourselves so we’re not taking on water early.”
Yarbrough, who can transition to long relief or be used as a weapon against lefties once the Yankees’ rotation fills out, certainly gives the club some protection, as do prospects such as Elmer Rodriguez-Cruz and, to a lesser extent, Carlos Lagrange. However, the team would still benefit from adding a frontline starter to a rotation that also includes Max Fried, Cam Schlittler, Will Warren and Luis Gil.
