9:13pm: Cruz is suffering from what manager Aaron Boone described as a “high-grade” oblique strain and will be out for a significant amount of time, as relayed by Bryan Hoch of MLB.com. Devin Williams, Luke Weaver, and Mark Leiter Jr. appear likely to be the club’s go-to leverage arms while Cruz is out.
3:14pm: The Yankees announced Monday that they’ve selected the contract of right-handed reliever Geoff Hartlieb and placed fellow righty Fernando Cruz on the 15-day injured list due to a left oblique strain. Infielder CJ Alexander was designated for assignment to open a spot on the 40-man roster for Hartlieb.
Hartlieb, 31, is a journeyman righty who’ll be suiting up for his fifth big league team in seven years. The former Pirates draftee broke into the majors with Pittsburgh in 2019 and has since suited up for the Mets, Rockies and Marlins. He’s tallied 79 1/3 innings in the majors and has a rough 7.37 ERA to show for it, but he’s been very sharp for the Yankees’ Triple-A affiliate in Scranton so far this season.
In 35 innings with the RailRiders, Hartlieb touts a 3.34 earned run average. He’s punched out 26.2% of his opponents against a tidy 6.9% walk rate. The Yankees have Hartlieb throwing sliders at far and away the loftiest rate of his career. More than 53% of Hartlieb’s pitches with Scranton this season have been sliders — a notable increase over his previous career-high 45% back in 2020 and a massive increase over last year’s 37.3% clip with the Rockies’ Triple-A club. Hartlieb’s strikeout rate is up considerably, and his 17.2% swinging-strike rate in Triple-A is terrific. He’s not likely to carry quite such a gaudy mark over to the majors, though if he did, it’d rank tenth among the 310 pitchers (starters and relievers alike) who’ve pitched at least 30 innings this season.
Cruz, acquired from the Reds in an offseason swap sending catcher Jose Trevino to Cincinnati, is a tough loss for Aaron Boone’s bullpen. The 35-year-old has been brilliant, pitching to an even 3.00 ERA with a mammoth 41.2% strikeout rate against a 10.7% walk rate. Cruz is “only” averaging 93.8 mph on his heater, but he’s throwing his devastating splitter more in 2025 and overwhelming opponents with the pitch. Hitters are batting just .136 and slugging only .222 against Cruz’s splitter. He’s ended 86 plate appearances with the pitch, and 48 of them (55.8%) have resulted in a strikeout.
Alexander, 28, was claimed off waivers from the A’s earlier this month. He hasn’t appeared in a big league game with the Yankees and hit just .196/.302/.196 in 53 Triple-A plate appearances. That’s a far cry from the .252/.348/.509 slash he turned in with the Athletics’ Triple-A club in Las Vegas prior to his first DFA of the season. Alexander has four hits in 25 total MLB plate appearances between the Royals and A’s. He’s a lifetime .260/.329/.486 hitter in parts of three Triple-A seasons.
The Yankees will either trade Alexander or place him on waivers within the next five days. Waivers take 48 hours, so his DFA will be resolved within a maximum of one week.
Filed under: Not good.
I’m really hoping this isn’t a severe oblique strain but that’s usually the case with Yankees pitchers. Fingers crossed he’ll be available for the postseason
He’s going to be out until pass the trade deadline so they’ll need to make a trade for a reliever.
They were going to need a RP or two regardless. Cruz’s season might be over if this is a severe oblique strain
The Yankees always add a reliever or two at the deadline. They might want to accelerate that process.
They need to address 2B first. Pitching hasn’t been the issue during their June swoon.
Alot of teams wait till the deadline to see if mathematically they have a shot at the wildcard before they decide if they are going to move players
I’d rather see them trade for Eugenio Suarez and move Jazz back to 2B
2B or 3B. Jazz gives them the flexibility to do either. I’d rather have Jazz at 2B. The loss of Cruz is significant. We saw why tonight. They’ll add a reliever but I expect an infielder too.
I have no idea why Boone put in Leiter, Jr. first as he doesn’t always have command of his splitter. With the less-experienced JC catching, there’s always chance of a passed ball/wild pitch. Lasagna should’ve gone in right after that Rodon-served double.
Are we ever gonna see Clayton Beeter in the Bronx?
Right? I wonder why they’re so down on Beeter.
Beeter’s numbers have been good:
milb.com/player/clayton-beeter-690925
His walk rate remains pretty high.
That’s 50% of guys in the minors. Side note it’s a shame Effross seems busted. We traded for those years of team control and he’s finally healthy but looks like he left 2 mph on the operating table.
He is already on the 40-man, so yeah. Maybe they want him to get more consistent work in at AAA, since he was out for a while with injury. Maybe they swap him for Hartlieb next week.
Trevino-for-Cruz has been a win-win so far for both teams. Hope this turns out to be minor and that Cruz is back soon.
Glad to see Trevino doing well. Him getting Jazz thrown out of the game last week was hilarious.
He also twice used 2 Yankee players walk up music as a joke when he came to bat. All in good fun. Good for him, I believe Cincy gave him a 3 year contract
Hartliieb sucks, go Rays!
I hope the Braves get CJ back.
Geoff Hartlieb has never met a man he couldn’t walk in 5 pitches or less.
Clayton Beeter can’t catch a break. That’s Sandridge (2x), Effross, Headrick and Hartlieb called up instead of him.
Garbage in, garbage out for Bombers bullpen yet again. Why does Cashman keep getting all these losers?
Mark “light-the-game-on-fire” is a goto arm. The guy who lost us tonights game? WS is off!
@The Raven – I refer to him a Cigarette Leiter.
My name’s Geoff
Perhaps the Yankees might think about being sellers at the deadline. They just aren’t a very good team, their composition is questionable, their Manager uninspiring, and they lack energy and clutch-ness.. Maybe it’s unfair to judge them while they are slumping, but….
Cruz BMI is 30.4, obese. Hey morons, baseball is NOT a contact sport. Packing on the pounds REGARDLESS of the composition ONLY increases the likelihood of these types of injuries.
This seems so unbelievably intuitive that it’s not surprising that MLB has their head up their collective rear end. Gosh, why are there so many injuries?
Duh. Idiots.
huge bummer
hopefully he comes roaring back and carries them through the playoffs. every bullpen needs the guy they can bring in with bases loaded 0 or 1 outs
Have the Yankees just completely lost faith in Beeter? Crazy interesting moves lately. Last night’s game was Horrible once again the Starting pitchers can’t go deep into games and the BP ruins it. Can I please get pitchers that can guarantee 6-7 innings every time
Team is falling apart, but fast.
Time to clean house Cashman.
Season going down in flames quickly.