7:06pm: New York also outrighted lefty reliever Clayton Andrews, per the transactions log at MLB.com. The Yankees had designated him for assignment last week when they signed Tim Hill. Andrews, 27, has only made one big league appearance this year. He has logged 24 2/3 frames in Scranton, allowing a 5.84 earned run average. The former Brewer has managed solid strikeout and grounder rates but walked more than one-fifth of batters faced.
New York has outrighted Andrews twice this season. Players with multiple outrights have the ability to elect free agency instead of heading back to Triple-A. It’s not clear whether he will do so.
2:51pm: The Yankees announced Wednesday that left-hander Victor Gonzalez passed through outright waivers unclaimed and has been assigned to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. He was designated for assignment last week. The southpaw has enough big league service time to reject the assignment but not enough to retain the remainder of his $860K salary upon electing free agency, so he’ll likely accept the assignment.
Gonzalez, 28, came to the Yankees alongside minor league infielder Jorbit Vivas in an offseason trade that sent minor league infielder Trey Sweeney back to the Dodgers. His time on the big league roster didn’t go as hoped. While Gonzalez posted a solid 3.86 earned run average in 23 1/3 frames, he did so while issuing more walks (13.4%) than strikeouts (11.3%). He continued to post terrific ground-ball numbers (55.1%), but this is the fourth straight season his strikeout rate has dropped. His 93.3 mph average velocity on his once 95-mph sinker also marked a career-low.
Debuting with the Dodgers back in 2020, Gonzalez looked like a potential bullpen powerhouse. Armed with that then-95-mph bowling ball sinker, he pitched 20 1/3 innings of 1.33 ERA ball with an excellent 28.7% strikeout rate against a microscopic 2.5% walk rate — all while inducing grounders at a mammoth 69.2% clip.
Injuries have hobbled him since that debut and sapped his repertoire, however. He’s dealt with plantar fasciitis, knee troubles and most notably a bout of elbow inflammation that eventually led to arthroscopic surgery. In three and a half seasons since that outstanding debut effort, Gonzalez has combined for a total of 136 innings (majors and minors included).
Gonzalez was out of minor league options, so the Yankees had no choice but to designate him for assignment if they wanted the chance to send him to the minors. He’ll now head to Triple-A and try to earn another look later in the season. He’d need to be re-added to the 40-man roster for that to happen, of course. Failing that, Gonzalez will have the right to become a minor league free agent at season’s end, given his status as a player with three-plus years of service who was outrighted off a 40-man roster.
Surprised nobody claimed him. Several teams looking for relief pitching.
True, YC. I think there is just an automatic disdain for a reliever who does not strikeout a lot of batters no matter what his numbers look like.
He might rebound and become another bullpen arm for Boone to rely on, or to destroy depending on your perspective of Boone’s handling of the Yankees bullpen.
I’m not a Yankees fan or hater, but sometimes I want to punch Boone in the face for the managerial decisions he makes lol
Acoss: LOL… oh, man, I certainly understand that feeling!
….And puts Torres cleanup,,,holy cow !!!
So am I. He’s been successful previously and teams are always on the hunt for lefties.
L99: He’s a lefty that throws 95 and is pretty cheap. I just figured he’d be an automatic pickup for someone (Royals, perhaps?)
Could it be that teams see the success of Blake and believe that if he couldn’t get VG right then nobody can?
More likely something in his peripherals. His K rate has plummeted. 11.3% K%. FIP, xERA and DRA all in the 5 range. His FIP was almost six. Very hard hit rate. I’m glad he passed through waivers. Maybe they can try to fix him in AAA.
Why does CSbeisbol tell us every time he mutes someone? like we care
“Mutes someone”..People that mute others are soft. If you can make commentary, you should be man enough to handle the replies in most cases. Of course there are the morons who make incendiary commentary just to get others riled up.
so are you saying mute someone or not?
You mean like the troll sliderwithcheese
Is CSbeisbol the one and only ‘filihok’??? Filihok would say that non-stop.
Yes, he spoke to me and when I challenged him he blocked me (thankfully). My first thought was that he is Filihok under an alias. Why that guy blocks everyone and then creates another identity is beyond me, but he has a discernible pattern.
Maybe … making him pitch 5 times in 10 days when he has already experienced a drop in velocity? Dr. Boonedoggle is unrivaled in his ability to burn out bullpen arms. But he’s just another example of the Yankee mystique, pronounced mistake.
Boone certainly makes head-scratching decisions at times…
Lots of people love the analytics game, until they see it played.
So does the highest paid skipper…
Boone is a braying donkey. They aren’t “head-scratching decisions”, he is a complete idiot who should have been fired years ago. Don Mattingly should be the manager of the Yankees, not the Blue Jays bench coach, and Boone shouldn’t be allowed to coach little league.
I like Boone. He’s amiable and gets along well with his players. I am a Yankee fan from afar (Mariners main team) so I probably miss most of his problematic in-game choices. Also he is even keel, which is important for managing.
That’s awesome lark. Tell us how you really feel. Lol
I held back a little bit because there might be children around!
Come, now. Yankees are 23 games over .500. They are doing well.
In spite of Boone and his incompetence, not because of Boone. The players often cover his mistakes by being awesome, but it also costs them games at times. At the end of the year, in a tight division race, it might be the difference between a 1 or 2 seed and having to play a wild card game.
Why is this not Caleb Ferguson?
or both? How the front office has turned the bullpen from an area of strength to trash burning!
Tidy piece of business here
Vivas better be Yankees starting 2B or 3B soon. Giving up Sweeny was a HUGE mistake