Yankees Designate Justin Topa For Assignment

The Yankees have designated right-handed reliever Justin Topa for assignment, per a team announcement. They activated lefty Max Fried from the 15-day injured list in a corresponding move. New York now has two open spots on its 40-man roster.

Topa, who previously spent time with the Twins, Royals and Blue Jays this season, signed a minor league deal with the Yankees in mid-August. They added him to their roster on Aug. 25, but he is now in limbo a few days later. Before the Yankees cut him, Topa made two appearances – including in a 6-0 loss to the Red Sox on Saturday afternoon – and threw three innings of four-hit, one-run ball. That run was unearned for Topa, who totaled three strikeouts against one walk.

While Topa did decent work over a small sample with the Yankees, he got off to such a rough start this season that the Twins released him in May after two-plus years in the organization. The 35-year-old surrendered 17 earned runs on 27 hits, including four homers, and 11 walks in 19 innings. At the time, Topa owned an 8.05 ERA – a far cry from the 3.90 mark he posted over 60 innings last year. Topa has continued to see the velocity drop on his sinker, which is his primary pitch, since then. Now sitting at 93.4, he has lost about 2 mph on that offering since a career year with the Mariners in 2023. They traded him to the Twins in the teams’ Jorge Polanco deal during the ensuing winter.

Also a former Brewer, Topa has registered a 4.22 ERA with a 19.2% strikeout rate, 7.1% walk rate and a strong 52.8 ground-ball percentage in 170 2/3 innings in the majors. As someone who has more than five years of service time and cannot be optioned, Topa is now at the beginning of a 48-hour waiver process.