Yankees Sign Peter Strzelecki To Minors Contract
The Yankees have signed right-hander Peter Strzelecki to a minor league deal, Jon Heyman of the New York Post reports. Strzelecki will begin his tenure with his new team at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
The Brewers signed Strzelecki to a minors deal back in February, and selected that contract to the 26-man roster last Saturday. However, Strzelecki’s return to the big leagues was very brief, as Milwaukee designated him for assignment the very next day, and before the right-hander could get into a game. Strzelecki cleared waivers and, since he has been outrighted in the past, he had the ability to elect free agency rather than accept the outright assignment back to Milwaukee’s Triple-A affiliate.
His time on the open market was brief, and the righty now lands with what is technically one of his hometown teams — Strzelecki was born in Queens, though he grew up in Florida. Strzelecki is still looking for his first MLB action since 2024, when he had a 2.31 ERA over 11 2/3 innings for the Guardians. Over 83 2/3 career innings with the Brewers (in a previous stint in Milwaukee), Diamondbacks, and Guardians, Strzelecki has a 3.44 ERA, 24% strikeout rate, and 8.4% walk rate.
Despite these solid numbers, Strzelecki’s low-90s velocity may not turn many heads, and he is out of minor league options. If the Yankees were to select his contract to their active roster, they’d have to DFA Strzelecki and expose the 31-year-old to waivers again before trying to send him back down to the minors. The lack of roster flexibility may lead to more trips through DFA limbo for Strzelecki down the road, but for now he’ll stay in SWB as bullpen depth.
Anthony Volpe To Start Second Base Work
The Yankees will begin to have Anthony Volpe taking drills at second base, manager Aaron Boone told reporters on Friday (link via Bryan Hoch of MLB.com). Volpe remains on the big league roster even with José Caballero back from the injured list. New York optioned rookie outfielder Spencer Jones last night.
Caballero had a minimal IL stay due to a fracture in his right middle finger. The Yankees recalled Volpe to handle shortstop for the past week and a half. Boone said at the time he viewed Caballero as the starting shortstop. The manager was a little less firm on that today, saying he’ll “make (that) decision every night,” but Caballero indeed drew back in today against Nick Martinez for the start of a big weekend series against the division-leading Rays.
Volpe has played more than 4000 innings at the MLB level, all of which have come at shortstop. He started two games at second base in A-ball five years ago. That said, it’s common for shortstops to move fairly easily to other infield positions. Boone said the Yankees don’t intend to have Volpe take any reps at third base. They’ll hopefully quickly get to a point where they’re comfortable using him at either middle infield spot.
Jazz Chisholm Jr. remains the primary second baseman. He’s starting his 48th of 52 games there tonight. Amed Rosario has gotten the other four starts to occasionally spell the lefty-hitting Chisholm against an opposing southpaw. Chisholm has had a tough year against pitchers of either handedness, but his .239/.317/.372 line in a down season is still better than what Volpe provided at the plate over his first three seasons.
Volpe appeared in eight games while Caballero was out. He had five hits, including two doubles, while drawing seven walks in 30 plate appearances. He showed enough that the Yankees opted not to send him back to Triple-A, though it remains to be seen if they’ll get him into the lineup on a semi-regular basis.
They’re not going to use Volpe only against left-handed pitching. Rosario is a better hitter against lefties and a cleaner fit in that role, not that the Yankees use Chisholm as a strict platoon player regardless. Caballero has more established positional versatility and was out to a strong start to the season. He’s the team leader with 13 stolen bases while hitting .259/.320/.400 across 147 plate appearances. Caballero was a full-time shortstop early in the season with Volpe rehabbing last fall’s shoulder surgery. He could bounce to third base or the outfield if the Yankees want to mix Volpe in at shortstop. They haven’t gotten much from Ryan McMahon at the hot corner all year.
Gerrit Cole To Start For Yankees On Friday
Yankees manager Aaron Boone informed reporters, including Chris Kirschner of The Athletic, that right-hander Gerrit Cole will be activated from the 15-day injured list to start for the club on Friday. That will be his first start in the big leagues since 2024, as he spent 2025 recovering from Tommy John surgery.
Cole’s track record is well known at this point, as he has been one of the most consistent performers for most of his career. He has a 3.18 earned run average in almost 2,000 big league innings. In 12 seasons, he has only once finished with an ERA higher than 3.88.
Injury absences had been rare for him. From 2013 to 2023, he logged at least 116 innings in each full season and hit the 200-inning mark six times. Elbow issues became a talking point in 2024. Fresh off his Cy Young win in 2023, he experienced some elbow discomfort early the next year. He began the 2024 season on the IL but ultimately returned and posted a 3.41 ERA over 95 innings. He then put up a 2.17 ERA in five postseason starts as the Yanks charged to the World Series, ultimately falling to the Dodgers.
Then in spring training 2025, elbow discomfort returned. This time, it was more serious, as Cole had to go under the knife in March. He sat out the 2025 season and the Yanks did fairly well without him. They had signed Max Fried, who stepped into the ace role. Fried gave the Yanks a 2.86 ERA over 32 starts last year as the Yanks went 94-68. They couldn’t go as far in the playoffs as the year prior, dropping an ALDS matchup with the Blue Jays.
Now, coincidentally, Fried and Cole are effectively swapping places again. Fried recently hit the IL due to a bone bruise in his left elbow. It’s unclear how long that issue will keep Fried on the shelf, but it continues the stretch of the two pitchers technically being on the same team without ever being on the active roster together.
Cole has been rehabbing for a few weeks and was slated to make one more rehab start. The Yanks initially said that Fried’s injury wouldn’t prompt them to speed up Cole’s timeline but it seems they have pivoted from that. Cole is undoubtedly stretched out, having gone at least 4 1/3 innings in all six of his rehab outings. His 4.66 ERA doesn’t look especially impressive but he only allowed three earned runs combined over his two most recent games, tossing 10 1/3 innings in those.
Fried’s injury temporarily delays a tough decision for the Yankees. The club has been getting good results from Fried, Will Warren, Cam Schlittler and Ryan Weathers, with all four of those guys having ERAs under 3.60. Carlos Rodón has a 5.63 ERA but it only two starts, as he also began the season on the IL recovering from elbow surgery. As Cole was rehabbing, it looked like someone was going to get an undeserved demotion to the minors or the bullpen.
For now, Cole takes Fried’s spot and everyone else in that group can stay. If Fried is able to return relatively quickly, then perhaps an awkward decision will be required at that time, though it’s also possible another injury pops up in the interim. It’s also possible that Clarke Schmidt could enter the picture later in the season, as he is recovering a Tommy John surgery performed in July.
Photo courtesy of Kim Klement Neitzel, Imagn Images
Yankees Select Yovanny Cruz
The Yankees announced that they have selected right-hander Yovanny Cruz to their major league roster. Fellow righty Elmer Rodríguez has been optioned to Triple-A to open an active roster spot. The Yanks had a couple of 40-man vacancies, so no corresponding move is required there.
Cruz, 26, was originally an international signee of the Cubs out of the Dominican Republic back in 2016. He became a minor league free agent after 2023 and has since bounced around on minor league deals with the Padres, Red Sox and Yankees.
Though he was signed a decade ago, this is his first season pitching at the Triple-A level. Statcast pegs his four-seamer at 99.2 miles per hour on average. He also throws a high-80s slider. Statcast has also classified a few pitches as splitters, sinkers or changeups but the four-seamer/slider combo has made up well over 90% of his offerings.
For most of his minor league career, he has been able to miss bats but also the strike zone. From 2023 to 2025, he logged 110 innings on the farm, allowing 3.19 earned runs per nine. He struck out 26.8% of batters faced while giving out walks to 14.5% of opponents.
The results this year have been comparable, though slightly improved. In 18 frames, he has an ERA of 3.00 and a 29.1% strikeout rate. He has also induced grounders on 52.3% of balls in play. He has given out nine walks, making up 11.4% of batters faced. He has also hit three batters. Combining the walks and the hit batters, that’s 15.2% of opponents getting a free trip to first. Despite the control issues, Baseball America has taken notice, recently giving Cruz the #28 spot in the Yankees’ system.
It’s possible that Cruz is only up to give the Yanks a fresh arm. Of the Yankees eight relievers, six of them pitched yesterday. Three of those were pitching for a second consecutive day. With the group somewhat gassed overall, they will go to a nine-man bullpen by bringing up Cruz.
It’s unclear what this means for the rotation. The Yanks recently placed Max Fried on the IL and recalled Rodríguez to take his rotation spot. Rodríguez had a decent outing yesterday, allowing one run over 4 1/3 innings. After the game, manager Aaron Boone told Bryan Hoch of MLB.com that Rodríguez would stick around for one more turn of the rotation before Gerrit Cole‘s scheduled reinstatement from the injured list.
It seems the Yanks pivoted from that plan in order to get a fresh arm up for tonight’s game, as they kick off a four-game series against the Blue Jays. Ryan Weathers, Will Warren, Cam Schlittler and Carlos Rodón are scheduled to start the games in that series. By Friday’s game against the Rays, they’ll need a plan for the open rotation spot. That could be activating Cole sooner than anticipated, or perhaps a bullpen game led by someone like Paul Blackburn or Ryan Yarbrough. They could also call someone else up from the minors between now and then, if Cole is still going to make one more rehab start.
Photo courtesy of Kim Klement Neitzel, Imagn Images
Gio Urshela Announces Retirement
Infielder Gio Urshela has announced his retirement as a player in a post on his Instagram page. In the post, he thanks the people who contributed to his career, including his family, friends, fans, baseball organizations, coaches, the people of Colombia and more.
Urshela, now 34, was signed by Cleveland back in 2008. An international amateur out of Colombia, he secured a signing bonus of $300K. He quickly developed a reputation as a plus defender at third base while also dabbling at the other infield positions. His bat was a bit more questionable. He didn’t strike out much in the minors but also didn’t draw many walks and it wasn’t clear how much thump he could produce with his contact approach.
He cracked the majors in 2015. His initial big league opportunities matched his profile. He could pick the ball at third and didn’t strike out a lot but also didn’t produce offensively. He was eventually designated for assignment in 2018 and flipped to the Blue Jays in a cash deal. The Jays put him on waivers later that year and the 29 other clubs all declined a chance to claim him. At that time, he had 499 major league plate appearances and a .225/.274/.315 line.
The Jays traded Urshela to the Yankees for cash late in 2018. He began the following season as non-roster depth for Miguel Andujar, who had just finished a solid rookie campaign, finishing second in American League Rookie of the Year voting behind Shohei Ohtani. Early in the 2019 campaign, Andujar suffered a torn labrum in his right shoulder, an injury that would eventually require season-ending surgery. Though that was unfortunate for Andujar, it turned out to be the opportunity for Urshela to break out.
Urshela took over the third base job in the Bronx that year with a big step forward offensively. He hit 21 home runs and slashed .314/.355/.534 for a 132 wRC+. FanGraphs credited him with 3.1 wins above replacement. He may have hit his personal zenith that year with some help from external forces. His .349 batting average on balls in play was well above average. That was also the juiced-ball year, with home run records set all around the league.
Regardless, Urshela still proved to be a viable major league hitter in subsequent seasons. Over the shortened 2020 season and the 2021 campaign, he hit 20 homers in 159 games and slashed .275/.320/.438 for a 108 wRC+. He was credited with 2.4 fWAR for that span.
Going into 2022, Urshela was part of a big trade. He and catcher Gary Sánchez were flipped to the Twins for third baseman Josh Donaldson, infielder Isiah Kiner-Falefa and catcher Ben Rortvedt. Urshela had a solid campaign in Minnesota, hitting 13 home runs and putting up a .285/.338/.429 line, translating to a 118 wRC+. FanGraphs put another 2.6 WAR on his ledger that year.
Ahead of the 2023 season, Urshela was traded to the Angels for pitching prospect Alejandro Hidalgo. That was unfortunately just before things started to turn sour for Urshela. He hit a respectable .299/.329/.374 for the Halos but went on the injured list in June due to a pelvic fracture. He didn’t require surgery but he missed the second half of that season and was never really able to get back on track after that.
He became a free agent and signed a $1.5MM deal with the Tigers going into 2024. He got into 92 games for Detroit but hit .243/.286/.333 for a wRC+ of 74. He was designated for assignment and released that August. He latched on with Atlanta and finished on a slightly higher note, slashing .265/.287/.424 in 36 games.
That strong finish was enough to get him a $2.15MM deal with the Athletics for 2025. He hit .238/.287/.326 in 59 games for the A’s before getting designated for assignment and released in August. He returned to the Twins on a minor league deal this past offseason. He hit .192/.250/.231 in spring training and was released at the end of camp.
Urshela finishes his career having played in 851 games with 3,028 plate appearances. He only walked in 5.9% of those but also limited his strikeouts to an 18.3% pace. He collected 759 hits, including 147 doubles, nine triples and 73 home runs. He scored 312 times, drove in 352 runs and stole seven bases. His career slash line finishes at .270/.314/.407. That leads to a subpar 97 wRC+ but is dragged down by his slow start and soft finish. From 2019 to 2022, he hit .290/.336/.463 for a 118 wRC+. Both FanGraphs and Baseball Reference credit him with about eight wins above replacement, mostly from that four-year peak. Baseball Reference pegs his career earnings over $25MM.
We at MLB Trade Rumors congratulate Urshela on a fine career and wish him the best for his post-playing days.
Photos courtesy of David Butler II, Jesse Johnson, Nick Wosika, Imagn Images
Yankees Place Max Fried On 10-Day Injured List
TODAY: Rodriguez was called up from Triple-A to take Fried’s spot on the active roster.
MAY 14: The Yankees have placed lefty Max Fried on the 15-day IL due to a bone bruise in his left elbow, the team announced. An exact timetable isn’t clear, but it’ll be more than a minimum stint. Fried will be reevaluated “in a few weeks,” and only then will the Yankees determine when he can resume throwing. His MRI will also be reviewed by Dr. Neal ElAttrache in the coming days. For now, the Yankees made no mention of structural damage or anything pertaining to Fried’s ulnar collateral ligament. Fried himself tells reporters that he does not think surgery will be necessary for his current issue (link via Joel Sherman of the New York Post).
Fried exited his most recent start (Wednesday) after just three innings. The Yankees announced at the time that he was dealing with posterior soreness in his left elbow, prompting concern about a potential major injury. The bone bruise isn’t a best-case scenario but certainly isn’t worst-case either.
Losing Fried for any period of time — and this, as mentioned, seems very likely to be more than the minimum — is a major hit for the Yankees. The severity of the blow is lessened, to an extent, by the looming return of Gerrit Cole, but the Yankees’ vision of a Cole-Fried tandem leading the rotation still has not come to fruition since signing Fried to an eight-year, $218MM contract in Dec. 2024. Cole’s elbow blew out during spring training 2025, costing him the entire season. The Yankees have still yet to have both aces on the active roster at the same time. Cole likely has at least one more minor league rehab start to go before he’s ready to return.
Fried, 32, is out to yet another terrific start. He’s given the Yankees 61 2/3 innings with a 3.21 ERA, a 20.8% strikeout rate, a 7.9% walk rate and a 48.8% ground-ball rate so far. His debut campaign in the Bronx produced a 2.86 earned run average over the life of 195 1/3 frames.
It’s exactly the sort of production for which the Yankees were hoping when signing Fried to a contract that still stands as the fourth-largest ever given to a pure pitcher (fifth-largest, if we include two-way star Shohei Ohtani). Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Cole and Stephen Strasburg are the only pitchers to ever command a larger guarantee than Fried’s $218MM, whether via extension or free agency.
With Fried headed to the IL alongside Cole (at least in the short term), the Yankees’ rotation includes four locks: Cam Schlittler, Carlos Rodon, Will Warren and Ryan Weathers. They could plug long relievers Paul Blackburn or Ryan Yarbrough into the rotation for a turn or two, and prospect Elmer Rodriguez has already come up to the majors for his debut this year, so he’s another candidate to pick up some innings. Righty Luis Gil was optioned earlier this season but is on the minor league injured list due to right shoulder inflammation.
The Yankees’ Other Young Ace In The Making
If you weren’t familiar with Cam Schlittler before this season, I’m sure you are now. The 25-year-old owns an AL-leading 1.35 ERA across nine starts. The Yankees are 7-2 in his outings, and opposing batters are hitting .176 against the righty and his devastating three-fastball mix. With Tarik Skubal on the shelf, Schlittler has emerged as an early frontrunner to start for the AL All-Stars this summer in Philadelphia. Some might tell you he’s the Cy Young favorite, too. But Schlittler isn’t the only reason the Yankees’ starting staff has exceeded expectations in 2026.
Will Warren, 27 next month, has a 3.42 ERA through nine starts of his own. With 59 strikeouts, he’s tied with Schlittler for fourth-most in the American League. His 5-1 record also matches Schlittler’s, as does New York’s 7-2 record in his starts. Under the hood, the numbers are just as impressive. Warren ranks among the AL’s top 10 qualified arms in xERA and FIP, while his xFIP and SIERA put him into the league’s top five. The only AL pitchers ahead of him in all four metrics are Schlittler, Dylan Cease, and Jacob deGrom.
One thing all of those “ERA estimators” appreciate is the significance of strikeouts, walks, and their relationship to one another. Warren’s strikeout rate is up from 24.1% in 2025, his first full season, to 29.8% in 2026. His walk rate has dropped by nearly one third, from 9.1% to 6.1%. Accordingly, his 23.7% K-BB% (strikeout rate minus walk rate) is more than 10 percentage points higher than the league average for a starting pitcher. K-BB% is a stat that stabilizes relatively quickly. It’s also one of the strongest predictors of future run prevention. Warren still needs to prove he can pitch this well over a full season, but his much-improved K-BB% is a powerful indicator that his early success is more than smoke and mirrors. Schlittler is turning heads with a 24.8% K-BB% after 202 batters faced. As far as strikeouts and walks are concerned, Warren has been almost equally excellent in a similar-sized sample.
It isn’t hard to see that Warren has been pitching better than he was last year. It’s a little harder to understand how and why. His strikeouts are up and his walks are down, but he isn’t throwing substantially more pitches in the strike zone or generating more swings. His swing-and-miss rate is middle of the pack, while his chase rate is well below league average. Even more curiously, his strikeout and whiff rates are down on his sweeper, which was widely considered his bread and butter in his prospect days. When Warren put up a 4.44 ERA in 33 starts last season, many were quick to note that he did so despite opponents hitting .336 with a .569 slug against his supposed “best pitch.” Instead of being a weapon, it was the least effective sweeper in the game, with a run value of -10, per Baseball Savant. So, it would have made perfect sense to presume that Warren needed to harness his sweeper if he was going to take the next step.
It would have made perfect sense, and yet… the explanation for his success isn’t that simple. Warren throws his four-seam fastball, sinker, and sweeper each about one third of the time against right-handed batters. When he doesn’t have the platoon advantage, he also mixes in a changeup and a curveball to keep lefty batters on their toes. All five of those offerings have above-average (or better) raw stuff this year, according to models like Stuff+ and PitchingBot at FanGraphs.
However, most of his pitches had good stuff last year too. What Warren has really improved in 2026, according to those models, is his command, specifically on his four-seam, sweeper, and changeup. Indeed, a glance at his heat maps will confirm that he’s been hitting his spots with those pitches more frequently. He isn’t letting his four-seam fastball drift to the sides, he’s wasting fewer sweepers, and he’s punishing opposite-handed hitters with his changeup low and away. The righty might not be throwing more pitches in the zone, but he’s throwing pitches where he needs to throw them to earn more strikes.
Just as consequential as where Warren is throwing his pitches is when and where he’s throwing them in relation to one another. In other words, all five of his pitches work in tandem. His changeup works because it plays off his sinker. His sinker works because he pairs it with his four-seam. They all work because his sweeper gives him such a different look. His arsenal is more than the sum of its parts.
To that point, Stuff+ and PitchingBot give Warren strong scores for the stuff and location of each of his individual pitches, but his overall scores – scores that take into account physical pitch characteristics, pitch locations, and situational usage for his entire arsenal – are nothing short of elite. His 118 Pitching+ (a sister metric to Stuff+) ranks third among qualified arms across MLB, trailing only stuff god deGrom and stuff prodigy Jacob Misiorowski. Warren’s overall PitchingBot score is even better, leading all 79 qualified pitchers in the major leagues. It may be just one metric, but it’s a metric that puts him ahead of names like deGrom, Skubal, Skenes… and Schlittler. Pitching+ and PitchingBot aren’t stats you hear about every day, but they’re powerful tools for predicting rest-of-season runs allowed in smaller samples. When all is said and done, what matters is preventing runs and winning ballgames. The pitch models tell us that Warren has the skills to do exactly that.
Gerrit Cole has been out all season. Carlos Rodón only just returned. If Clarke Schmidt pitches at all this year, it won’t be until the latter half of the schedule. Luis Gil is hurt too, and even before he landed on the Triple-A injured list, he was pitching like something was wrong. Those four pitchers made up the Yankees’ rotation as recently as the 2024 World Series. Yet, even without meaningful contributions from any of them, New York’s starters lead the Junior Circuit in wins, xERA, and FanGraphs WAR. Their 3.14 ERA ranks second, and their 16.5% K-BB% ranks third. Not all of that is Warren’s doing – he’s had plenty of help from Schlittler, Max Fried, and Ryan Weathers – but it would be hard to overstate how much he has meant to his team so far in 2026. Cole, Fried, Rodón, and now Schlittler are much bigger names, but Warren is looking like another future ace for New York.
Photos courtesy of Maria Lysaker, Imagn Images.
MLBTR Podcast: Patrick Bailey To Cleveland, The Struggling Astros, And Arizona’s Outfield Changes
The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.
This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Steve Adams of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…
- The Giants trading Patrick Bailey to the Guardians (1:25)
- The Astros losing Carlos Correa to season-ending ankle surgery (18:40)
- The Diamondbacks calling up Ryan Waldschmidt and trading Alek Thomas to the Dodgers (28:05)
- The Mets calling up A.J. Ewing (38:25)
- The Marlins calling up Robby Snelling (42:55)
Plus, we answer your questions, including…
- Are the Tigers struggling due to injuries and will be fine as guys get healthy? Or should fans be more worried? (49:30)
- Which starting pitchers can the Cubs pursue? (53:25)
- When will the Yankees realize they need to upgrade on David Bednar as the closer? (58:20)
Check out our past episodes!
- Skubal’s Injury, The Marlins’ Catchers, Eldridge Called Up, And Volpe Sent Down – listen here
- The Alex Cora Situation, Lucas Giolito Signs, And The Phillies Fire Rob Thomson – listen here
- Kevin McGonigle, The Padres’ Franchise Valuation, And Edwin Díaz To Miss Time – listen here
The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff. Check out their Facebook page here!
Photo courtesy of David Dermer, Imagn Images
Max Fried Departs Game With Elbow Soreness
3:20pm: Fried spoke with reporters, including Bryan Hoch of MLB.com, after the game. He said he thinks it’ll be a short-term issue and that he is hoping to make his next start.
2:00pm: The Yankees removed starter Max Fried from today’s game after just three innings. It was later announced that he was lifted due to left elbow posterior soreness. He will undergo imaging tomorrow. Chris Kirschner of The Athletic was among those to relay the news.
At this point, it’s too early to know if this is simply a precautionary move or if this will ultimately prove to be a serious issue. Fried does have some elbow issues on his track record, as most pitchers do these days. He had Tommy John surgery way back in 2014, when he was a minor leaguer. In 2023, a forearm strain caused him to miss about three months of the season. In 2024, he had a much briefer IL stint related to his arm, as forearm neuritis put him on the shelf for about two weeks.
It was after that 2024 season that he became a free agent and signed with the Yankees on a huge eight-year, $218MM deal, the largest guarantee ever given to a left-handed pitcher. The deal has been working out great so far. In 2025, the Yankees lost Gerrit Cole to Tommy John surgery but Fried stepped up as the ace. The southpaw made 32 starts last year with a 2.86 earned run average. He finished fourth in Cy Young voting behind Tarik Skubal, Garrett Crochet and Hunter Brown.
Here in 2026, the Yanks are still waiting for Cole to return. They also began the campaign without Carlos Rodón, who underwent surgery to remove loose bodies from his elbow last fall. The Yanks have started the year strong with a 27-16 record. Coming into today, their 3.07 rotation ERA was just a hair behind Atlanta’s 3.06 for best in the majors. Fried has certainly done his part, with a 2.91 ERA coming into today’s game.
The rotation has done so well that the Yankees seemed to be trending towards some tough decisions. Rodón came off the IL a few days ago. Making room for Rodón was fairly easy since Luis Gil had struggled enough to get optioned down to Triple-A. But Cole is also trending towards a return. Between Fried, Rodón, Cam Schlittler, Ryan Weathers and Will Warren, the Yanks had a full rotation.
Rodón hasn’t really had a chance to put up any numbers yet this year but has a strong track record. The other four have all been throwing the ball well, with no one in the group having an ERA above 3.42. Weathers, Warren and Schlittler have options but it would be tough to tell one of them to head down to the farm when they’re pitching so well. Going to the bullpen would arguably be more palatable but still a bit awkward. If Fried ends up needing some time on the IL, the decision would become quite easy, as Cole could just step into Fried’s spot.
That probably wouldn’t happen right away. Cole made his most recent rehab appearance on May 10th and got to five innings pitched but the Yankees have said they expect him to make one or two more rehab appearances after that. Perhaps Fried hitting the IL would make them expedite the process but they probably don’t want to rush anything with a pitcher as important as Cole.
If Fried needs an IL stint and if Cole stays on his rehab for a bit longer, the Yanks will have to figure out a short-term rotation plan. They are off tomorrow but then play 13 days in a row after that. Recalling Gil won’t be an option because he was just shut down in the minors with some shoulder inflammation and won’t throw for three weeks. Elmer Rodríguez and Brendan Beck are on the 40-man and could be recalled. Paul Blackburn and Ryan Yarbrough have starting experience and each pitched multiple innings of relief after Fried departed today, so they could perhaps be part of some kind of patchwork solution.
For the Yanks, the greater concern will be the long term. In an ideal world, they would probably have Cole, Fried, Rodón and Schlittler lined up as an excellent rotation for a playoff series. Hopefully, Fried’s issue proves minor and he can come back in time to make that a reality. Any alternative outcome would be a blow to the club’s season.
Photo courtesy of Mitch Stringer, Imagn Images
Yankees Place José Caballero On IL, Recall Anthony Volpe
3:55pm: The Yankees have now officially announced the moves, listing Caballero’s injury as a right middle finger fracture. Manager Aaron Boone tells reporters, including Chris Kirschner of The Athletic, that Caballero could be back after a minimum stint and that he expects Caballero to be the club’s starting shortstop at that time.
2:35pm: The Yankees are placing infielder José Caballero on the ten-day injured list with a finger injury. Shortstop Anthony Volpe will be recalled as the corresponding move. Francys Romero of BeisbolFR first reported on Volpe’s recall. Jorge Castillo of ESPN confirmed that Caballero would be placed on the IL.
Though Max Schuemann is the starting shortstop today, Volpe will presumably take over as the club’s regular at that spot with Caballero on the shelf. That was the way things were supposed to play out earlier this year. Volpe was the Yankee shortstop from 2023 through 2025. Volpe required shoulder surgery in October of last year and was going to begin the 2026 season on the IL. The Yankees planned to have Caballero, who had mostly been a utility player, hold down the position until Volpe was healthy.
But the plans seemed to change as Caballero played well and Volpe didn’t storm out of the gates after getting back on the field. Caballero has produced a .259/.320/.400 line this year, good enough for a 105 wRC+. He has also received strong grades for his defense and stolen 13 bases.
The Yanks decided to ride the hot hand and stick with Caballero. Volpe had begun a rehab assignment in mid-April. Rehab assignments for position players come with a 20-day maximum. When Volpe’s 20 days were up a little over a week ago, the Yanks optioned him to Triple-A for more reps. Caballero hurt his finger sliding into a base this week. It’s unclear how much time he is expected to miss but it will lead to Volpe getting back to the majors.
Perhaps it will be a chance for Volpe to re-cement himself as the club’s shortstop, something that has become a bit more cloudy lately. He made the club’s Opening Day roster in 2023 just before his 22nd birthday. He hit 21 home runs, stole 24 bases and got good grades for his defense. Despite the home runs, his overall offense was subpar. He slashed .209/.283/.383 for a wRC+ of 83. But that was held back by a .259 batting average on balls in play. Given his youth and poor luck, it was fair to expect growth.
That hasn’t played out, unfortunately. Volpe slashed .229/.283/.377 over 2024 and 2025, translating to a wRC+ of 85. In 18 minor league games this year, he has a .221/.276/.294 line and 52 wRC+. After undergoing shoulder surgery, a bit of rust is perhaps not surprising but it’s continuing a trend of subpar offense.
The Yankees are 26-16 while most American League clubs are below .500, so they should be fine even if Volpe struggles in the next few weeks. There may be long-term implications, however. George Lombard Jr. is one of the club’s top prospects and has reached Triple-A, so he could be pushing for a big league promotion at some point. There’s also the fact that second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. is an impending free agent.
With a few things up in the air when it comes to the middle infield, the Yankees will eventually have to make some decisions about the way forward. Volpe has a full slate of options and could be sent back down in the future but the Yankees would also like it if he performs well enough to stick around.
For Volpe’s earning power, the quick recall is potentially significant. He came into this year with exactly three years of big league service time. He continued racking up service days while on the IL but that clock stopped when he was optioned. It will now start ticking again.
The big league season is 187 days long but a player only needs 172 days of service to be credited with a full year. Since Volpe was only optioned on May 3rd, nine days ago, he could still get to the four-year mark if he stays up for the rest of the year. Though if he’s optioned again and ends up short of that four-year line, his path to free agency will be delayed by a year.
Photo courtesy of Vincent Carchietta, Imagn Images