The Yankees are set to sign free agent reliever Trevor Rosenthal to a minor league deal, according to a tweet from MLB Daily Dish’s Andersen Pickard later backed up by Jon Heyman of MLB Network (Twitter links). The veteran elected free agency on August 10th after being designated for assignment by the Tigers organization.
Rosenthal, if nothing else, has certainly bolstered his frequent flyer accounts this year, as New York will represent his third organization of the 2019 season. Rosenthal’s signing of a one-year, $7MM deal with Washington was intended to bolster the D.C. relief corps with veteran experience, but the 29-year-old righty was thoroughly shellacked (22.74 ERA) in 6.1 innings in a Nats uni before being released on June 23rd. The Tigers then signed him on June 29th, perhaps hoping that his early-season struggles were just signs of rust understandable for a pitcher who had sat out the 2018 season in rehabilitation from Tommy John surgery. Those hopes were dashed over 9 summer innings, as Rosenthal again allowed nearly more walks (11) than strikeouts (12).
Perhaps Rosenthal can find a remedy for his struggles working in the New York organization. Though this deal is reported as being of the minors variety, it stands to reason that, with the end of the minor league schedule just weeks away, this signing is likely a precursor to Rosenthal’s late-season integration into the Yankees bullpen mix. For several reasons, there are worse gambles for Yankees GM Brian Cashman to make at this juncture in the season.
After all, Rosenthal is still youthful, and formerly effective. The last time we saw him pitch a full season, Rosenthal threw 47 2/3 innings of 3.40 ERA ball with a career-high 14.3 K/9 against 3.8 BB/9 for the 2017 Cardinals. Walks have always been a bugaboo for the Missouri native, with a career 4.5 BB/9 rate that is truly anxiety-inducing in a late-inning reliever, but his 12.0 career K/9 rating helps explain how a pitcher with that weakness could wind up stranding more than his fair share of runners. If the Yankees recent run of success with scrap heap vets is any indication, it may not be the strangest development of the 2019 season to see Rosenthal regain some of his old St. Louis form in New York.
Why!? Though the way Cashman has been finding guys, he might become Cy Young. Was he ever a Rocky?
I am much more confident in Cashman’s ability to get the most out of hitters. His history in bringing in pitchers isn’t great.
Maybe correct with Sp’s but relivers like Kahle, Miller, Robertson, and Green have been been solid.moves.
None of those were “scrap heap vets” four years and one ulnar collateral ligament removed from any real success. 3 were veterans who were pitching great before joining the yankees and green was a prospect (albeit one nearly major league ready).
Depth move, total flyer. Annoying nonetheless. Still, he’s a Yankee now….so here’s to hope.
Rosenthal might break the Edwin Jackson record.
lol, great point
No. Originally a Cardinal.
Now this is funny!
Great move. He’ll be one of the team’s four call ups in September. If he shows his past top form stuff (doubtful), he could sneak on to the playoff roster (VERY UNLIKELY). Regardless, he can eat September innings. Someone has to pitch as the team balances protecting their needed relievers and gunning for the best record to get home field advantage. If he gets bombed immediately, he’ll get cut again and someone else from the minors will come up.
Somehow, I totally missed that he was even signed by the Tigers let alone being released by them….
He’s been horrible, is he signed for next year as well?
I heard the contract was six years for $140 million.
Read the article
Dude should have stayed in the minors coming back from injury but he wanted the payday and got it from that Nats, which you can’t fault him for but this could be good for him if he can spend an extending amount of time in the minors
Hopefully this will cost Scranton the division title. Let’s go!
Now that he’s a Yankee he will find himself and probably be World Series mvp
i hope he gets the proper time to get his command back
3 Bullpen options added in the past week… Rosenthal, Ryan Dull & David Hernandez. All rebound options that gives Yankees head start on potentially resigning for 2020 or maybe one can fix their issues in Scranton and contribute to the Yankees Bullpenning playoff run. Rosenthal is still 29 Yrs Old. Eventually someone is going to get this guy right.
Pythagoras has better stuff than these guys. He led the league in triples.
Get ready for him to be an All Star next season
The Yankees scouting team loves strikeout guys so they take a flyer on guys like this who have had previous success
Dang. Matheny really ruined this man’s career
Did he abuse him ? His downfall reminds me of Jason motte
Amongst others. Matheny had a horrible habit over using certain bullpen pieces while others would never pitch. Siegrist, Rosenthal, Bowman, Maness, Hicks, Motte, and Oh are just the solid bullpen pieces that Matheny overused on a regular basis and each of which has a dramatic downfall (some never recovering) that I can think of off the top of my head. He would routinely go to his best reliever in situations where it was unnecessary (large lead or deficit) and routinely would throw guys 3 days in row.
That was joe torre. He would have 3 relievers appear in 80 games each and they’d have nothing left for the postseason. Now boone just screams at the umpires while his bullpen of closers who can’t throw strikes somehow get the job done against scrub teams. It’s all the same results. Failure on the big stage.
Failure on the big stage? He won 4 championships.
No bias here at all…
Matheny ruined many careers! If you were one of his guys he used you until your arm fell off , and seemed to never realize there were other guys in the bullpen
I dot know how they can do it. He used to be stud bit that changed. Don’t like this much at all that much. Maybe pushed Chapman out of spot lol. Not. Not all star more all dud lol. I do not it matter.
Good God son, I think you need some Mavis Beacon in your life.
When a post has this much errors, I give the writer the benefit of the doubt as a non-primary English speaker. That’s the only fathomable reason for such butchering of the language
Ok I’ll bite. Who is Mavis Beacon?
Typing tutor.
Sizzle passed threw it Detriot lol. Sombset pack up out Old Way time.
Tink hand now but
later feill. Ha . !!
Why say lot word when no word do trick?
When me president, they see…they see.
Rosenthal needs to take the rest of the season off & work on his mechanics. The best thing that could happen to Rosenthal is that either the Astros or Rays sign him because they have good track records of turning pitching around.
Tiger fan here. Thanks for your condolences.
Rosenthal reminds me of Charlie Sheen’s pitcher in Major League. “Just a little outside” as it hits the backstop on the fly. Maybe hypnotherapy would help Rosenthal get over one of the worst cases of the yips I’ve ever seen.
The guy is only 29 years old. If he still has a live arm which I think he does then it’s purely a mechanics issue and can probably be resolved. plus the way Cashman picks people of the scrapheap is amazing
It’s not mechanics, it’s 100% mental. He has the yips
Rick Ankiel anyone?
Yeah. That’s what I was saying. Bummer to him and us in a way you know did get to see the real deal
Guy had the yips. Remembering knoblacks from yankeess. He had yips to. So did Ankill from the cards. Go cards though. Lol. Watch out. They are getting hotttrer than the sun.
Ankel is still a tragic story to me. I remember seeing his blow up during the 2000 post season. Man he had a great future 🙁
He still had a decent career as an outfielder after that though
As a 31-year-old, I can say that a 29-year-old is definitely not youthful.
All this 64-year-old can think of to say just now is, “Please shut up.”
I have always wondered why these guys sign with just any old team. If I’m Davis, Rosenthal, Holland or any pitcher that needs help figure it out not take a pay cut to work with Derek Johnson, Cooper, Maddux, Searage, or Tampa Bay, Houston . They seem to be the places that can help you turn it around. I mean take a step back for a year to have 4 to 5 years of success. Look at the Brewers biggest mistake this year was trying to save 300 000, by not resigning Coach Derek Johnson but spending almost 19 million on signing Grandal to come in.
As a 36 year
Old I can say I don’t feel half as good as 29
But I don’t complain and am
Still pretty damn good flexible and don’t have an ache or a pain
So maybe it is all mental
As a 7 year old I can say who cares what y’all say? You are all so old you have 1 leg in the grave anyway.
Shut up , you youthful idiot, you haven’t a clue what’s coming for you lol!
so this is the new Yankees… low risk acquisitions with low chance of success, unless its happless and the fat man than we are all in!
Seriously- this is an easy one as there is no downside…. However, it raises the question of the bigger issues surrounding how the genius puts together pitching staffs
The great homer rocky7 begs to differ.
Best to ignore little rocky….. Proof there are no stupid posts only stupid people
There is literally no downside to this move. And it doesn’t affect Clint Frazier. If Mike Trout was on the Yankees, people will still complain that his batting average is too low.