The Yankees signed Brandon Leibrandt to a minor league contract, according to the left-hander’s profile page at MLB.com. The Reds designated Leibrandt for assignment and outrighted him off their 40-man roster at the end of October, upon which Leibrandt opted to become a minor league free agent.
A sixth-round pick for the Phillies back in the 2014 draft, Leibrandt made his MLB debut in the form of nine innings and five appearances with the Marlins in 2020. That cup of coffee marked his last trip to the Show until this past season, when Leibrandt tossed 6 1/3 innings over two appearances with Cincinnati.
In between those two big league stints, Leibrandt pitched in the minors with the Marlins and Cubs, and he spent the entire 2023 campaign and the start of the 2024 season outside of affiliated baseball, pitching with the Atlantic League’s High Point Rockers. Leibrandt had a 2.70 ERA over 80 innings with the Rockers, which was enough for the Reds to give him a look on a minor league deal last May.
Leibrandt is turning 32 in December, so he’d be a late bloomer if he can unlock something at this stage of his career and catch on as a reliable big league pitcher. However, the Yankees have had a solid recent track record at getting results out of unheralded pitchers, and Leibrandt’s seven percent career walk rate in the minors is a hint that he might possess MLB-caliber control. There’s no risk for the Yankees in bringing Leibrandt to Spring Training and seeing what he can offer as a southpaw depth arm for the bullpen.
Meet the new Luke Weaver.
Son of former MLBer Charlie Leibrandt.
I immediately clicked on his B-R link and scrolled to “relatives” in search of the answer to that very question.
“We’ll see you tomorrow night.”
Take that Soto! Told you we wouldn’t wait around.
Cashman is going to miss out on his other Christmas list free agent Paul Goldschmidt now too since this signing pushed them over Hal’s budget
“Start spreading the news” … glorious time to be yanks fan.
If the Mets made this move you’d have 10 posts calling Stearns cheap.
Cue all the ‘minor league’pacts as baseball again grinds out a long laborious off-season.
Love the NBA’s model where players are negotiating almost pre free-agency.
There will be another long drawn out period, punctuated with a meaningful signing here or there.
Most the FAs will go unsigned as usual, until the very last minute.
Fans will be left holding their breaths as spring training nears.
Alas that is MLB at its finest. Major Ly Backwards.
I’d rather have that than a flurry of signings over a couple of days and twiddling my thumbs the rest of the off season.
The beauty of that is the rest of the offseason could see a bevy of trades. As free agency finishes teams are left to get creative.
Soto may wait until mid March to sign. How does that help a team like the Yankees or Mets, who he factors heavily into their plans?
Fans are stuck in limbo too.
It’s great for MLBPA and Boras, so from that perspective, I agree with you, it’s better for baseball.
Could be decent once he gets the Yankee strike zone like Luke Weaver or Luis Gil.
The obvious post is Let’s Go Brandon. Or maybe it’s Lets Go Cashman or Let’s go Boonedoggle or whatever. Blah blah blah.
Cashman shopping in the dumpster bin again. Old Habits are hard to break. New Off-season same Cashman
Nepo baby