The Yankees have agreed to a minor league contract with right-handed reliever Yerry Rodriguez, as first indicated on the transaction log at MLB.com. It’s a two-year minor league pact, agent Kelvin Nova tells MLBTR. Rodriguez underwent Tommy John surgery back in spring training, when he was a non-roster invitee with the Pirates. He’s targeting a midseason return to the mound in 2026.
Rodriguez, a hard-throwing 28-year-old, has appeared in parts of three big league seasons between the Rangers and Blue Jays. He’s pitched only 36 1/3 innings in the majors and been tagged for 33 runs in that time (8.17 ERA). He’s been plagued by a bloated .345 average on balls in play, but a penchant for walks and home runs have been larger detriments to his big league work.
Though he hasn’t had much success in limited MLB work, Rodriguez touts a 3.56 ERA in parts of eight minor league seasons. He’s punched out 27.8% of his minor league opponents, including a 28.3% strikeout rate in parts of four Triple-A seasons. Rodriguez has walked nearly 11% of his big league opponents but just 8.8% of opponents in the minors (albeit 12% in Triple-A).
Rodriguez has averaged 96.7 mph on his heater in the big leagues, pairing the pitch with a slider that sits 84 mph and a lesser-used changeup that sits 86.3 mph. Just one-third of the batted balls against Rodriguez in the majors have been grounders, but in a much larger sample of minor league work he’s routinely posted above-average ground-ball rates (47.5% in Triple-A) and strong swinging-strike rates.
Because he’ll still be rehabbing next spring, Rodriguez won’t be in the mix to vie for an Opening Day roster spot. He could be a midseason addition to the bullpen if he avoids any setbacks and pitches well on a rehab stint. If not, he’ll be in big league camp during spring training 2027. Rodriguez is out of minor league options, so if the Yankees add him to the roster at any point, they won’t be able to send him back down without first exposing him to waivers.
Cashman has started dumpster diving early this year. Go get Fairbanks now!!!
mlb – Looks like it will be a very Yerry Christmas for Yankee fans!
How bout Edwin Diaz instead? If it’s 5 or 6 years he wants, then give it to him. It’s not my $!!!
here’s the over/under of how many teams will acquire him in 2026 if he gets called up at any point and the Yanks need the roster spot?
2026: 3 teams
I say over.
We’re cornering the Yerry market
That’s gold, Yerry! Gold!
“”No, no, Bania, no. This is the dinner. The soup counts!”
Little Yerry is making a big mistake
Jes, Yerry. I just checked your duck. It is more succulent than even I had hoped.
His ’22 was pretty impressive.
that’s part of the problem here; getting guys who had one good year or two in the past but not since. Not Yerry excited but not much to lose., either…
Yerry exciting news!
Cook, Matt Blake!
Glad they found an Effross replacement.
They’re still looking for their Chad Gaudin replacement (on the field not off the field obv)
The Chadster was a criminal? Didn’t know that…
Ohhhhh yeahhhhh……
In the words of former Yankees manager Joe Girardi…”It’s not what you want..”
ok, I looked it up… the words “lewdness” and “groped” came up, so, yeah…
Yeah he did some foul stuff to a patient who was incapacitated and then his attorney blamed a medical condition.
ah yes, the old “pervitis” alibi…
Minor leaque deal, has hit 97 on the gun. Nothing to lose shot.
Hey! Anyone see that movie Criminal, with Costner and Oldman? It’s pretty good.