The Yankees have signed veteran utility man Pablo Reyes to a minor league deal, per a report from Gary Phillips of the New York Daily News. The infielder will presumably receive an invite to big league Spring Training in a few months.
Reyes, 31, made his big league debut with the Pirates back in 2018. That 18-game cup of coffee in the majors went quite well for him, as he slashed an impressive .293/.349/.483 in 63 trips to the plate down the stretch that September. That strong performance earned him a larger role with the club as part of the club’s Opening Day roster, but he struggled badly and found himself optioned to the minors for much of the summer as he ultimately slashed just .203/.274/.322 in 71 games. A PED suspension wiped out Reyes’s 2020 season, but he resurfaced as a member of the Brewers in 2021. He spent two years as a depth piece for Milwaukee, shuttling between Triple-A and the club’s bench, and hit a middling .258/.330/.344 (84 wRC+) in 103 trips to the plate with the club.
He elected free agency following the 2022 season and initially signed on with the Athletics on a minor league pact for the 2023 season. He ultimately did not make it to Oakland, however, failing to crack the club’s Opening Day roster before being shipped to the Red Sox in mid-May. He was quickly selected to the big league roster in Boston, and his time with the Red Sox proved to be the most productive of his big league career. Reyes appeared in 64 games for the Red Sox last year, slashing a roughly league average .287/.339/.377 in 185 trips to the plate.
That was a sufficiently strong performance that Boston decided to bring Reyes back for the 2024 campaign, but things took a turn for the worse this year as he posted a paltry 27 wRC+ in the first month of the year before being designated for assignment by the Red Sox in late April. Reyes was outrighted to the minors initially but quickly found himself on the move again as he was dealt to the Mets the following month. Reyes only made one appearance in Queens as a pinch runner without stepping up to the plate, but he did slash a strong .300/.385/.504 in 68 Triple-A games between his two clubs’ affiliates in Worcester and Syracuse.
Now, Reyes will enter 2025 looking to crack a Yankees bench mix that current figures to feature Oswaldo Cabrera, Oswald Peraza, DJ LeMahieu, Jon Berti, and Jorbit Vivas. While Reyes offers little in the way of offense, he does provide value in the form of quality baserunning and the positional flexibility to play everywhere on the diamond except behind the plate. Should Reyes find himself on the outside looking in of the club’s Opening Day roster next year, he could be a valuable source of non-roster depth for a club that currently projects to feature a bench without many optionable players.
LOL Hope Yankees use him all year at 2B.
Soto’s replacement perhaps.
Nah. They’ll get Soto back. This guy is just a benchwarmer
I said elsewhere, Soto’s preference is to come back to the Yankees, but Cohen will blow all offers out of the water, in this case, so they better be preparing Plan B.
This guy isn’t plan B if that happens
I said elsewhere, Soto’s preference is to go to the Brewers because there’s a cafe he likes in Milwaukee but Steve Cohen is gonna give him a membership card to Costco so he’s def going to the Mets. We all can make up narratives but doesn’t mean we should.
How are we making up a narrative if it hasn’t happened yet?
“How are we making up a narrative if it hasn’t happened yet?”
By making up the narrative that Soto prefers Yankees. Anything else?
Let’s see where he signs before jumping to conclusions. If you’re right, I’ll accept defeat.
Just happy Glaybor the Oriole killer is gone!
I hope they bring him back. Keep Jazz at 3rd.
Pavlo Reyes will make the Scranton/Wilkes Barre Rail Riders a stronger team. MRk my words.
Yankees need to remove Stanton and DJL from the roster next. This minor move means nothing if Yankees bring back Soto they better do more this Off-season to improve on the roster. Does anyone think Judge should be moved to 1B he’s not the permanent answer at CF. Spencer Jones, Dominez and Soto in the OF. Clearing some of the salary of Stanton and DJL is important especially if Steinbrenner only cares about reducing payroll to bring back Soto. They desperately need more SP to guarantee 5-6 innings every game
@mlbnyfan
All due respect but it’s not that easy to just move the contacts for Stanton and DJ. Why in the world would they move Judge to 1b and Jones to the OF? Plus Jones needs more time in the minors. He struck out 200x last year. If they bring back Soto then move him to LF, Dominguez in Cf and Judge moved back to RF. Besides, I’d rather give Ben Rice a shot as the everyday 1b. Keep DJ around as the super utility guy that can play 1b, 2b, 3b and LF. I wouldn’t mind them bringing back Gleybor on a 3 year deal. And as for pitching we have 6 guys that can give us 5 or 6 innings already. I wonder if they’ve given any thought to moving Schmidt to the bullpen tho?
Why remove Stanton? He was easily the best Yankee during their unexpected run to the World Series, and he had a solid season. Instead, let’s move on from perennial choke artists.
If Reyes offers little in the way of offense, he has surely found the perfect home, in Yankee Pinstripes.