3:29PM: Right-hander Yerry De los Santos was optioned to Triple-A in the corresponding move for Carrasco, the Yankees announced.
12:56PM: Right-hander Jake Woodford has opted out of his minor league deal with the Yankees and become a free agent, according to a report from MLBTR’s Steve Adams. In addition, Jack Curry of YES Network reports that the Yankees are selecting the contract of right-hander Carlos Carrasco from Triple-A Scranton and that he’ll be active ahead of tonight’s game against the Dodgers. A corresponding 40-man move won’t be necessary as the Yankees have multiple spots available, but room will need to be made for Carrasco on the active roster.
The 28-year-old Woodford was a first-round pick by the Cardinals back in 2015 who made his major league debut during the shortened 2020 campaign. That rookie campaign didn’t go especially well as he posted a 5.57 ERA in a multi-inning relief role, but he did enjoy stronger seasons in 2021 and ’22. Across those two years, Woodford pitched to a 3.26 ERA (121 ERA+) with a 3.93 FIP in 116 frames. He struck out just 15.4% of opponents faced during that time against a 7.5% walk rate, though he made up for his lack of strikeout stuff and pinpoint command in part thanks to a strong 45.8% groundball rate. His lack of strikeouts caught up to him after that, however, as he posted a lackluster 6.23 ERA with a 6.61 FIP over 47 2/3 innings of work in 2023 before being non-tendered by the Cardinals that November.
Since then, Woodford has been bouncing around the league as a journeyman. The 2024 season saw him split time between the White Sox and the Pirates, for whom he pitched to a 7.97 ERA overall across 35 innings of work with a 4.94 FIP while in the majors. At the Triple-A level, the right-hander posted a solid enough 3.93 ERA across 94 innings. His results weren’t enough for him to keep a roster spot with the Pirates over the offseason, but after he was designated for assignment he elected free agency and found a minor league deal with the Rockies during the winter. Woodford was granted his release by the Rockies prior to Opening Day when he didn’t break camp with the club and then latched on with the Yankees, for whom he’s posted a 4.54 ERA in 39 2/3 innings of Triple-A work.
It seemed possible that Woodford’s time to return to the majors had come when the Yankees were forced to use seven pitchers in last night’s blowout loss to the Dodgers, but the righty triggered his opt out clause and will now return to free agency after the Yankees decided to turn to Carrasco instead. It will be the 38-year-old’s second stint with the Yankees this season. The right-hander made the Opening Day roster after a number of injuries left the Yanks with questions in their rotation, but Carrasco is far removed from his days as a mid-rotation arm in Cleveland at this point and surrendered a 5.91 ERA and 5.30 FIP across 32 innings of work with the Bronx earlier this year. Despite those lackluster numbers, Carrasco is a good bet to offer volume at a time where the Yankees bullpen is sure to be gassed, and he’s been universally hailed over his 16 seasons in the majors as a fantastic clubhouse presence.
Carasco got torched in the majors this year and has been lit up in both his AAA starts
Why not give Jake a chance. Carlos has been horrible. Yankees should have better options in AAA
@MLB – Expected a move today with De Los Santos or Headrick getting demoted. The logical guys on the 40 man (Winans and Beeter) both pitched in yesterday’s AAA game ruling them out. Effross maybe but he’s been awful.
They need guys that can throw multiple innings after burning through the bullpen in LA
Sounds like a few innings against the Dodgers will make him feel like home
Welcome back Cookie!
Then he’ll fit right in with the Yankees as they
Play the Dodgers.
Cookie is just a body to put on the mound, he’s cooked…
Unpopular opinion…Will Warren is another Chance Adams.
Why? Based on what? Warren has more IP this year than Adams in his whole career and Warren has looked pretty damn good at times. Adams never ever looked like he belonged.
C’mon….
stathead.com/baseball/versus-finder.cgi?player_id2…
Craven: Nice use of stats, high effort post. I disagree though. Warren has nasty stuff and gets tons of K’s. Boone could help out a bit and give him a quicker hook. Prior to these back to back disasters he was lights out 3 starts in a row.
My brother JerseyJohn,
If Warren ever becomes at the least a regular MLB starting pitcher I will delete my account. Bookmark this. I also don’t hold those 3 starts in high regard since they weren’t super strong lineups in terms of runs.
(I’m sure a decent amount people are going to be heavily cheering for Warren now lmao)
I highly disagree. Warren has some decent underlying numbers. Very strong FIP, xERA, and SIERA. Adams had very poor marks in all of those stats throughout his career. Plus he has a 102 Stuff+. The comparrison you posted only tells half of the story.
Warren is going to stick, he has jad some good starts.
Luis Gil is no sure thing when he returns. Yankees are short on pitching depth, certainly likely they add a starter.
Why just a starter? He’s not valuable if he ends up becoming a King in the ‘pen? You know the same King who flamed out as a starter with the Yankees?
Warrren has 98 SO in 74 innings, what are we talking about here? Sure he may not make it but the stuff is not in question at all.
Well, Craven, I’m not going to be coming for your account regardless. These kinds of sub-plots are why we’re all fans. I foresee a future in which Warren is a competent mid-rotation option and has a few peak years like a #2. Let’s meet back here in 10 years and see who is right!
JerseyJohn,
No way my account makes it to 5 years lbh lol
I’m a vulgar Long Island native with opinions and a love for malt liquor
Craven, you paint a rich verbal picture! I made it this long by losing my signin credentials for about 4 years. I got tired of ghosting and did a password reset. Essex County NJ born and raised so I have plenty of attitude also.
Billy09 – When did King flame out as a Yankees starter? Yankees put him in the rotation and he was dominant for a handful of starts. Enough so that the Padres insisted he be part of the Soto return and enough that the Yankees initially resisted including him in any deal.
I’m obviously talking about when King first came up 5+ years ago. He was a SP prospect but didn’t look good in the rotation. Two-pitch pitcher and didn’t give them length. He transitioned to the pen and became an absolute monster
Yea. I’m not a fan of Warren, not in his current role anyway. He looks like a long reliever/ spot starter to me. Doesn’t really have a special pitch or great velo. I can do without him
NYG4246: He has 3 pitches above 100 in Stuff+. His curve is at 114 (I would have thought the sweeper was his best), followed by the slider and sinker at 108. He has the tools to succeed; he’s got 75 innings in MLB. Perhaps we give him some more time?
He’s in the bigs, the time is now. I think he’s out of his optimal role as a starter but he’s hurting us. 4.1 IP average per start, making the pen work. 3 wins in 12 starts. Gotta be honest, I have no idea what stuff+ is but if his stuff was that great his era wouldn’t be over 5.
Listen, you’re not wrong he needs more experience, because he does, but we’re leaning on him now – it’s due to the injuries to Gil and stroman but at this moment I don’t like him in the rotation
Even if Gil returns and pitches up to his ROY season, the Yankees still need depth in the rotation, do they really have the option to consider taking Warren out of their mix? Not unless they add a starter in a trade and get Gil back healthy and pitching well, and even then you need Warren as depth in case of injury.
He has been one of the biggest contributors to the Yankees this season in my opinion, when you consider how badly the Yankees needed a starter after losing both Gil and Cole.
You should look up Stuff+ and a whole bunch of other stats that mean a whole lot more than just your eye test. He’s a 5th starter right now. Most other teams would love to average 4.1 IP from their 5th starter. Until his last 2 starts (in COL and LAD), he had a 4.05 ERA with 34 K and only 6 BB in 23 IP. How is that hurting the team?
NYG: Fair enough, he’s gotten beat up too many times. Stroman is hurt but when he was healthy he was getting hammered, and it’s likely his best days are gone. You can dream on a young player at least. I”m no advanced stat expert but Stuff+ is kinda like WAR for pitches. 100 is league average above is good. He has 3 MLB quality pitches now he needs to stop leaving them in the middle of the plate and letting starts unravel.
Trade Lombard to the Giants for some of that scrumptious West Coast pitching talent.
Bill09
Stats that incorporate a conglomerate of players instead of just the individual player are, in my opinion, just for show. They’re cool but that’s it.
You’re being real selective in your 4.05 era before the last two starts. His era was also 5.65 in the beginning of May. He had a nice stretch of a few games.
After last night’s 18-run pitching debacle and spent bullpen, they’ll use Cookie to soak up innings if today’s game goes lopsided again.
this is basically them recognizing that using a position player 2 nights in a row is unacceptable
Exactly. He’ll then be DFAed and ultimately re-signed to await his next emergency need.
cookie just barely meets the better-than-a-position-player criteria. can’t risk proctoring reyes
The Yankees are probably going to win the division again and possibly get back to the WS. Steinbrenner is fine with second place, and his actions continue to show it. The Yankees spend just enough to be relevant. However, don’t spend on the right players. Yankees should have Harper instead of Stanton on this team and probably Freeman instead of getting Rizzo at the time. Those tweaks make all the difference
not going after scherzer in 2014 is the one that bugs me the most
If you think that’s bad look at who Cashman wouldn’t give up in trade for Verlander or Cole…and we know how that turned out.
Freeman was not going to sign with the Yankees regardless of the contract offer….he undoubtedly would have been a terrific add as you can see what he means to LA…..longer term…it looks like Rice at least in a platoon at 1st….maybe Goldy hangs around for a second season or more likely they resign Belly to bounce around between 1st and the outfield…too bad they can’t jettison Stanton…
Freeman would have gladly gone to the Yankees if they had made him a better offer than LA.
Freeman only acted like he wanted back to Atlanta so as not to alienate their fanbase. It was a political move. He was always going to end up with his hometown team….
ROCKY: The good news is the Marlins subsidy kicks in next year. His AAV is locked in at $25 mil but the Yanks pick up money from the fish to make cutting him much more palatable. Aaron Hicks, and Rizzo come off the books and free up 16 million after this year.
Hindsight is 20/20. but we can play the opposite game.
before the 2018 season would you have turned down an MVP winning 8 WAR player for a fleecing of really nobodies and having the other team pay for portions of the contract to wait a year for a chance at harper. Maybe harper wants more money with the Yankees in on the bidding war and needing the big bat and still may have chosen the phillies over the yankees. So you are left with clint frazier or maybin or gardner or hicks being your regular big bat instead of harper or stanton and then lost your 100 win season as you wait a year on harper. If you do sign him who moves to dh judge or harper as they are both RF. This might actually be a positive as Judge is very injury prone.
As for Freeman, everyone had him going back to atlanta even from the prior season and it was almost guaranteed. Would you have waited until after spring training started for a slight chance he might sign with your team. They could have tried for Freeman but he wanted to go back to atlanta and didnt sign with la until after the braves traded for olsen. At that point Rizzo is signed and you are stuck with Joey Gallo being your first baseman with garwin and guzman being his backup. Not ideal either.
@mlbnyyfan- It was never happening. Hal has always hated Harper.(showboating) Remember how crushed Bryce was when he didn’t even get an offer from the Yankees? Smh. But agreed, they should of signed Harper instead of trading for Stanton. Especially seeing how friendly BH’s contract is, with no opt outs.
Yeah, as if the Yanks haven’t had any showboating players on the roster recently. Let’s see, Jazz comes to mind right away. I’m sure there have been others. They were just too cheap to pay for Harper.
Cashman is a reactionary GM and he wasn’t spending money when Harper was a FA because they were burned by big contracts. It’s like when the KC Royals were dominant so Cashman tried to build a super bullpen.
If Harper retired today would he make the Hall of Fame?
JMO, but without any rings, I feel like he’s still a couple of good years short.
Unfortunately, as I’ve said numerous times before, I don’t believe the Yankees can win a WS with the tandem of Brian Cashman and Aaron Boone.
Boone’s mismanagement of the bullpen in game 1 of this series demonstrates why he isn’t as good as many say, imho.
Hal has nothing but love for Cashman and Boone, so for better or worse those two are staying put. Perhaps the dynamic duo stumble their way into a World Series championship along the way…
We can hope, Acoss. I’d LOVE to be proven wrong. For the record, I think Cashman did a tremendous job this past offseason after the Soto departure. But, I also think it’s too little too late.
What a turnaround tonight for your Yankees. After being pummeled 18-2 yesterday, they are making Yamamoto work. This is how the Yankees should be playing, making pitchers have to throw more pitches and work those counts.
Also Yarbrough is just a throwback to an era where not everyone has to throw gas to get hitters off balanced.
Jake Woodford opting out is more newsworthy than wade miley?
Nah. Wade had his moment in the sun on mlbtr.
They just don’t seem to write about reds stuff that much.
I see now they updated an article late last night
Cooked Cookie. Is this the last time?
Baked Cookie?
No-bake Cookies are rad
I don’t understand why they didn’t make Rodón today’s starter (on regular rest) and use Yarbrough as the long/short reliever. They have another off day tomorrow.
Rondon looked pretty gassed towards the end of his last outing. I’m not opposed to giving him some extra rest. I think keeping Yarbs stretched out is a good strategy in case a starter goes down. Sure, it’s the Dodgers but there are many games left ahead to play. I’m not optimistic about tonight’s game.
Because it’s June 1st and they’re at the end of their 2nd west coast trip this past month. No need to skip Yarbs to avoid giving Rodon the extra 2 days rest. This series isn’t that important
Good thing Error in Judgement hit those two home runs yesterday.
And having Weaver pitch an inning was a nice touch.
I was wondering where you were homie lol I look forward to your negative Bronx Bombers replies in the comment section on every Yankees related article on MLBTR.
You’re like Steve Howe in the day. No matter how much I want to hate you I just can’t.
Sometimes I come out of the basement and do other stuff so I’m not always staring at a screen.
Yanks already have the East locked up -if for no other reason everyone else in the division is garbage. And speaking of garbage, I’d rather be forced to binge watch Mad About You while being subjected to Chinese water torture than watch espn’s coverage of tonight’s game. Good riddance! Ahahahahahaha!
Dear Lord, why Carrasco?
He hasn’t gotten anyone out in three years