Yankees Make a Desperate Pitching Move After Bullpen Plans Blowup

Scrambling for pitching to cover themselves this weekend, the Yankees made two roster moves before Saturday’s game in Atlanta. They recalled right-hander Allan Winans from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and designated Rico Garcia for assignment, as expected.

It’s a clear response to Friday night’s bullpen game that backfired hard. 

The Yankees used four pitchers in the series opener, including J.T. Brubaker for three innings. Brubaker is now unavailable. So is Max Fried, who’s nursing a blister. And rookie Cam Schlittler, who would’ve likely started Friday, is dealing with right biceps soreness. The Yankees are hopeful he can return in Toronto, but that still leaves the Yankees' pitching exposed this weekend. 

Winans is damage control. 

He’s not a long-term fix, but he’s fresh, stretched out, and available. In Triple-A this season, he’s been dominant going 7–0 with a 1.19 ERA over 60.2 innings, with 66 strikeouts and a 1.02 WHIP across 13 games, including 11 starts. He was briefly up with the Yankees in June and gave up six earned runs over 6.1 innings in two appearances. But with Gerrit Cole and Clarke Schmidt out for the year, Luis Gil still at least a week or two away, and Fried and Schlittler temporarily shelved, the Yankees didn’t have many other options.

The front-end of the rotation of Fried and Carlos Rodon has held on so far, but the depth behind it is shaky. The Yankees entered the weekend with the fourth-best rotation ERA in baseball, but that number doesn’t reflect where things stand now. The bullpen has been leaned on heavily in July, and it showed Friday when a patchwork plan unraveled.

Winans will likely be used in long relief, especially with the Yankees needing coverage after Friday’s overexertion. It’s  increasingly clear the Yankees are walking a tight rope with their pitching.  The roster moves may buy them a little time, but they need a trade for some pitching to get them through the second half, let alone October.