The Yankees announced that they have selected infielder Caleb Durbin and catcher/infielder/outfielder Jesus Rodriguez to their 40-man roster, protecting both players from being selected in the Rule 5 draft. Additionally, the Yanks announced that right-hander Carson Coleman has been returned to them by the Rangers. Coleman had been selected in last year’s Rule 5 draft but spent all of 2024 on the injured list.
Durbin, 25 in February, was drafted by Atlanta but came to the Yankees in the December 2022 trade that sent Lucas Luetge the other way. Since then, he has taken 697 plate appearances across multiple levels, drawing walks at an 11.3% rate while only striking out 8.3% of the time. He has slashed .287/.391/.440 for a wRC+ of 127 while stealing 67 bases in 79 tries. He has done so while playing the three infield positions to the left of first base while also spending a bit of time in the outfield.
Last week, manager Aaron Boone spoke glowingly of Durbin, saying he expected him to play a big role on next year’s team. With Gleyber Torres becoming a free agent, the club has a vacancy at second base. Perhaps Jazz Chisholm Jr. could move over there but he could also stay at the hot corner. Time will tell if Durbin can carve out a regular role or perhaps be in a utility gig or be in the minors as depth. Either way, given that he has opened some eyes, it’s not surprising that he’s getting a roster spot today.
Rodriguez, 22, is likely further from contributing to the big league club. He hasn’t yet reached Triple-A and only has 23 games at the Double-A level. Still, it’s understandable that the Yanks wanted to protect him, given his strong offensive numbers. In 1,168 minor league plate appearances, he has struck out just 14.3% of the time and walked at a strong 11.6% clip. His combined batting line of .311/.397/.477 leads to a 143 wRC+.
He will likely still need some more time in the minors but should eventually factor in at the big league level. He has spent some time behind the plate but also in left field and the three non-shortstop infield positions.
As for Coleman, the Rangers took him in the 2023 Rule 5 draft even though he had undergone Tommy John surgery a few months earlier. The Rangers put him on the 60-day injured list early in the year but were likely hoping to activate him at some point. Unfortunately, he was never able to come off the injured list during the 2024 campaign.
They could have kept him on the roster but the Rule 5 restrictions would have carried over into next year. He also would require a 40-man roster spot throughout the winter, as there is no injured list again until spring training. Instead, the Rangers decided to move on and sent him back to the Yankees, who do not need to add him to their 40-man roster today.
Can’t ever go wrong with Jesus on your team.
Unless you also have a Muhammad on the roster… then things could get a little spicy
Hahahaha! So true!
Jesus blows up balloons all day
Sits on the porch swing watching them fly
Cashman would usually deal a couple Rule 5 eligible guys for a more stashable prospect right about now…we’ll see.
Durbin or Pereza the time is now and 2B is yours if any of them want it. Let’s go Spring Training can’t get here fast enough
I just hope they don’t repeat their annual mistake and wait until Soto decides to sign before they do anything in the market. If I were any team involved with Soto, I’d give him until the Winter Meetings to decide. If he hasn’t decided, I would make moves as if he were already going somewhere else.
Yankees are not stupid snd they won’t eait for Soto to make sny moves its the other free agents that will wait until hecsigns to set the market which is stupid cause Soto hs no bearing on the others price tag!
Not Rule 5 eligible but Periera, Peraza, Vivas and Gómez are all out of options (and occupying a 40 man roster spot).
Doubt any of these guys will make the 2025 roster so expect those guys to also be moved in the off-season.
5 catchers (6 if you want to count Rice).
Escarra is almost 30. How does he get protected while Messinger (25 yo, decent AA season doesn’t). If they weren’t going to protect him, they couldn’t get some bonus pool money or some low level guy for him?
Doubt Messinger makes it past White Sox, A’s or Rockies. A’s ended up with a serviceable back end starter with Mitch Spence in last year’s Rule 5 (and he wasn’t a ranked prospect like Messinger).
The Yankees left several interesting arms unprotected. They lead MLB in getting players plucked in the Rule 5 in recent years, mostly reliever arms. Alex Mauricio is likely gone. Zach Messinger too.