The Yankees have selected the contract of right-hander Ryan Weber, per a team announcement. He’ll return to their big league roster for a second stint this season. Weber will take the roster spot of lefty JP Sears, who was optioned back to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre following last night’s game.
Weber, 31, appeared with the Yankees once this season already, logging 3 2/3 innings and allowing one run in a long relief outing. It was a one-off appearance for Weber, who was designated for assignment and elected free agency after clearing waivers. He quickly re-upped with the Yanks on a new minor league deal, however (as is fairly common for journeymen arms in this mold), and has continued to pitch well in Scranton. Through 24 2/3 frames for the RailRiders, Weber has a 2.55 ERA with an outstanding 19-to-1 K/BB ratio and a solid 47.4% ground-ball rate.
The Yankees are the seventh Major League team for which Weber has pitched since debuting with the Braves back in 2015. He’s logged big league time each season since that debut but has never appeared in more than 14 games and has maxed out at 43 Major League innings in any given season. Through 170 2/3 innings as a Major Leaguer, Weber has a 5.22 ERA with a well below-average 14.8% strikeout rate but an excellent 5.4% walk rate and a strong 53.2% grounder rate.
It wouldn’t be a surprise to see a similar DFA carousel play out this time around for Weber, but he’ll nevertheless pick up at least a few extra days of big league service time and (most notably for him) Major League pay. Despite appearing in parts of seven MLB seasons, Weber hasn’t yet reached three years of service and has never been arbitration eligible, so even brief Major League stints carry extra weight for him.
“It wouldn’t be a surprise to see a similar DFA carousel play out this time around for Weber…”
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This is his role. It would be a surprise if he wasn’t DFA’d.
l’m sure JP and Miguel are good buddies now.
Good call, and good for him. Welcome back, Kott- . . . er, Weber.
I wonder if they told him to only pack one day’s worth of clothing. Chapman is likely to be back tomorrow.
Yes. He knew he was up for the start and then he’d be returned. Weber knows he’s up today as a bulk arm, and then he’ll be DFA’d. The difference is Sears has a future with the club, but Weber does not.
Checking the boxscore, looks like Weber didn’t even get used as a bulk arm today. Pretty sure Chapman will be now be activated as they head to Houston and Weber will be headed back to Scranton.
RobM – Scranton…..or elsewhere if claimed off waivers.
Bummer for Sears…you can’t really do better than he has, but the merry-go-round keeps turning when teams insist on using so many pitchers per game.. He’ll be back
I see him as the reason I don’t think the Yankees go after a starter at the trade deadline.
@Joe Agreed. They also still have Devii Garcia and Luis Gil if, and when, they ever find a way to work out their issues.
*Gil had TJ surgery so Garcia
Joe and YBC,
Hoping for Benintendi! Left handed, a contact hitter, and capable of playing a good left field at Yankee Stadium and covering in center if needed. We have Sears and Schmidt to spot start or fill in more regularly if needed,
Benintendi would be great. At least Naquin or Michael Taylor. I’d be good with Andujar (or Florial even) in left. Anything to get rid of Gallo. Hicks is an adequate fourth OFer IMO.
Forgot to add Happ.
@YankeesBleacherCreature, I feel we’re within a few weeks of finding out Garcia has Thoracic Outlet Syndrome and will need surgery. This is based on nothing outside of a few things I’ve read related to symptoms. He’s dealing with some numbness, and it would explain his control issues and rapid fall off. Hope I’m wrong, but this guy went from one of the top pitching prospects to a complete disaster.
I can see the Yankees included Gil, and maybe one or two other 40-man roster guys, or those who will be out of options for 2023, in a deal at the deadline. They’ll clear out some space. We saw that last year at the deadline too. Gil has an interesting arm, but is likely bullpen bound. They’ll run into a similar problem with him as they had with Manny. He can’t be sent down. The Yankees want their minor league pitcher options to have, well, options!
And Schmidt, and German.
He’ll be DFAed in about 12hrs
got to love someone named JP (JCPennys) Sears. Its like a bit of 80’s throwback !
Coming up next: E.J. Korvette!
It is a bit curious they DFA’d Man Ban early and are bringing Weber back up while sending JP back down. It seems like and extra move or two that was just unnecessary when Man Ban could’ve been retained for an extra week. I dunno, maybe I’m missing something?
How else was Sears going to be added to the 26 man? Someone had to go. The options limit will only encourage the DFA train more than ever.
Plus they perhaps feel its likely Manny B can be retained just like Weber. was. Both are unfortunately – for them – roster cannon fodder. But a couple of paydays in the bigs don’t hurt. .
The harder move comes when they have to reactivate German, who’s working on his own rehab and now on the 60. Though I guess they could call Gil up and put him on the 60. in turn since he had TJ in May. A 1/2 years service time isn’t a game changer when it comes to controlling him. His problem is running out of options.
Gil, Garcia and Medina are all in their last option years.
Thanks guys, good stuff, love these discussion points. I see Manny as a trade candidate to someone too. Too many places need pitching not to give the lefty a shot.
I’m pretty excited to see what Waldichuck is going to do as well. Yankees pitching looks to be as incredibly deep & talented as any other organization at this point. I do see a few trades coming when these recoveries are done though. Simply not enough roster slots for all the guys running out of options.
You are definitely right. Better to make a 3 for 1 trade, then lose a guy because your 40 man is full. As I said earlier let’s get Benintendi.
Rule V draft is also canceled this year so it also allows the team more time to make personnel decisions.
Clip, they’re making moves not just for the next day or two, but also looking forward. They needed to get Sears on the roster for last night, which tells us right off they view Sears as more valuable than Banuelos (he is), because they could have simply started Manny. However, if they had started Manny, they’d have needed a deeper pen last night because Manny wasn’t out there to relieve himself which means they’d have had to send Manny down after last night’s game as they did with Sears. So they used ManBan’s spot for Sears, then Weber, and tomorrow Chapman. That’s the short-term need. Now, they could have sent Marinaccio down, since he does have options, but then they’d lose him for 10 days and that would have weakened their pen. Then if they somehow managed that, the next issue is Loaisiga will be coming off the the IL in the next couple weeks, so Manny would have been gone then if he somehow survived this round.
I’d view this all as a positive. It supports what we know Cashman and his team do well — they build great depth for their bullpen, all the way down through Scranton. Lose Chapman, Green and Loaisiga? No problem. We planned for this. Their third and fourth options in AAA would be key pieces in other MLB pens.
Basically, I think they still like Manny, but they ranked their relievers based on need, stuff and if they are controllable. Manny drew the short straw. Maybe he’ll slip through, but I’d really be surprised. He’s a lefty with pedigree who seems to have had an uptick in stuff. Pitched well in Asia, pitched well in ST, pitched well in AAA, and pitched well in his short usage in MLB this year. Some team will have to take a shot at that. The Yankees just don’t have the room for him because he’s out of options. What is clear though is they value Albert Abreu more than Manny, because Albert is also out of options.
“However, if they had started Manny, they’d have needed a deeper pen last night because Manny wasn’t out there to relieve himself which means they’d have had to send Manny down after last night’s game as they did with Sears.”
Rob, if Manny had relieved himself on the pitcher’s mound, that might’ve had a negative effect on his career, no?
It is expected that soon to join Ryan WEBER with the Yankees are both:
Dick WEBER and Pete WEBER!!
Competition better be forewarned as both of them REALLY throw submarine style !!:
Wait a minute! So, there’s a Dick & Peter? Oh, the irony…..
Yo, Clipper and Fink, good luck tonight.
Hey, go man — just saw your post, too late. Thanks for the good wishes, but it was not to be. Congrats to you. Enjoy it.
Thank you, and I am.
I just saw this headline in the Houston Chronicle: “Astros beat Yankees again, continue dominance of New York baseball teams”
Talk about homerism.
The Yankees’ record this year vs. the Astros is 2-3. In those five games, the Yankees scored 15 runs and the Astros scored 17 runs. The largest margin of victory in a single game by the Yankees was 3 runs and the largest margin of victory by the Astros was 3 runs. That’s dominance?