Yankees Predicted to Shake-Up Roster With Non-Tenders

Cousins might be the most significant loss on Kirschner's list. He had big moments during the 2024 World Series run. His 1.1 innings in game five of the American League Championship Series were pivotal in the Yankees holding off the Cleveland Guardians. Although in three of his six outings, he did allow an earned run.

Leiter and Effross are the biggest disappointments. Both were acquired from the Chicago Cubs, and both have done little to show they can be contributors. Effross was hurt soon after the Yankees sent Hayden Wesneski to Chicago for him.

Injuries are unpredictable, but the Yankees could not have foreseen just how bad Leiter would be after acquiring him for prospects Benjamin Cowles and RHP Jack Neely. In 70 innings since the trade, he has allowed 38 earned runs.

The one reason to keep Leiter are his peripheral stats. He induces a ton of soft contact. Leiter had an average exit velocity of 87.2 MPH. He also had a 33.3% hard hit rate and 5.6% barrel rate. All three are tops in the league. Leiter may even have fallen into some bad luck. According to Baseball Savant, he had a 4.84 ERA but a 3.67 expected ERA. They may just hold on to him based on this.

Another reason the Yankees may give Leiter another chance is that, for much of the year, the defense around him has been atrocious. No pitcher received less help from their defense than him in 2025.

Other Non-Tender Predictions

Kirschner also mentioned Clarke Schmidt, who is injured. Schmidt will be rehabbing from Tommy John surgery and will most likely be back in the second half of the year.

"If the Yankees want to create additional payroll flexibility, they could consider non-tendering Clarke Schmidt," Kirschner said. "He will not be an option to pitch until some point in the second half, and it's unclear how effective he'll be after the second major elbow surgery of his career. But it would still make sense to keep him because he has developed into a quality starter over the past two seasons."

Before going down, Schmidt was one of the more dependable starters for a better part of two seasons. It's hard to forecast what he'll look like when he comes back, but if there's even a chance they think they may need arms in the second half, keeping Schmidt on the roster might be something they ultimately do.

Make sure to bookmark Yankees On SI to get all your daily New York Yankees news, interviews, breakdowns and more!

• Yankees Predicted to Cut Ties With Veteran Reliever
• Yankees Whiff on Cody Bellinger, Kyle Tucker?
• Yankees Next Splash Could Be Cubs Star
• Kyle Tucker or Cody Bellinger? Yankees Have Decision to Make
• Yankees Infielder Named Best Interview on Team