From Greg Joyce:
It had been obvious for almost a week, but on Sunday it became official.
Will Warren will be on the Yankees Opening Day roster, Aaron Boone informed him on Sunday morning, and open the season as the No. 4 starter.
“Very excited, it feels good,” Warren said at Steinbrenner Field. “I came into camp with that as the goal. To hear it from Booney’s mouth was super exciting.”
The door opened for Warren to make the rotation with injuries to Gerrit Cole (Tommy John surgery) and Luis Gil (lat strain), plus Clarke Schmidt being slowed by shoulder fatigue and not ready to start the season on time.
Warren then did the rest, putting together a strong spring (even after getting hit around in his outing against the Orioles on Wednesday) in which he posted a 4.19 ERA with 19 strikeouts in 19 innings.
“Excited about him and his future,” Boone said. “Like the strides he’s made. Last year, he flashed it all. We saw glimpses of it. Took his lumps too. I think he’s improved over the winter, has improved this spring and he’s earned this opportunity.”
It’s fascinating that they have him as the #4 starter to start the season. Clarke Schmidt obviously won’t miss much time, so I wonder if the idea is to just make a call based on how well Warren and Carrasco pitch in their first starts? I would think they would want to give Carrasco a longer leash since they can option Warren, while they can’t option Carrasco.
In other Yankee news, JC Escarra had made the team as the backup catcher. It was very cute seeing him talking to his mom.
In sad Yankee news, Brett Gardner’s youngest son died after the family caught an illness during a vacation. That’s just awful.
Brandon Drury will start the season on the IL, so the White Sox just cut him instead. He’d be a nice pickup. He could play third base and has had a red hot spring training.
Saw that about Gardy’s son. How awful. I read that Girardi was choking up on the air announcing the news; he had known Miller since he was a baby.
Cashman said “it’s going to take some time” for DJ LeMahieu to return. LeMahieu played in only one spring training game before injuring his calf. LeMahieu has begun early-stage baseball activities with soft toss and swinging off a tee, but he may need a lengthy rehab time because he’s missed almost the entirety of camp.
Yankees sign Yarbrough who is guaranteed $2MM on the deal and can earn another $500K via incentives, ESPN’s Jorge Castillo reports. Since the Yankees are in the top tier of luxury penalization, that comes with a 110% tax. Yarbrough will cost them a total of $4.2MM.
Yarbrough finished the ’24 season with a career-low 3.19 ERA in 98 2/3 innings, but that came with a paltry 16.3% strikeout rate and one of the tamest fastballs in the sport — averaging just 86.5 mph, per Statcast. Yarbrough sat 89-90 mph as a starter early in his career, but like new teammate Tim Hill, is now more reliant on an unusual delivery and soft contact. Yarbrough rarely allows hard contact (29.4%) and has plus command that helps him offset his lack of missed bats.
I’m really surprised he didn’t make Toronto’s roster.