As the end of spring training drew to a close, the Yankees were in desperate need for pitching depth, particularly at the back of the bullpen. Suddenly, Ryan Yarbrough, the veteran lefty who spent five
years with the Tampa Bay Rays and had signed a minor league deal with the Toronto Blue Jays during the offseason, learned that he would not make the team, decided to opt out and test the market. The next day, the Yankees inked him to a one-year deal worth $2 million, giving the Yankees a left-handed arm capable of going multiple innings to fill out their bullpen.
It may not be hyperbole to say that the move may have saved the season.
Grade: B
2025 Statistics: 64.0 IP, 19 games (8 starts), 4.36 ERA (94 ERA+), 5.04 FIP, 3-1 W-L, 1 save, 1.203 WHIP, 20.8 K%, 7.2 BB%, 0.6 rWAR, 0.6 rWAR, 0.1 fWAR
2026 Contract Status: Signed to a one-year, $2.5 million contract in November
Yabrough began the season as the last man in the Yankees bullpen. His first appearance of the season came in garbage time on March 30th, a scoreless frame as the Bombers went on to win their third game of the season 12-3. His second outing, on the other hand, was a disaster, as he walked the first two batters he faced, loaded the bases by allowing a single, then turned a laugher into a close game as Geraldo Perdomo took him deep for a grand slam. After that, though, he became a lockdown reliever for Aaron Boone, allowing just three earned runs in 13.2 innings across the final 27 days of April.
It was due to this strong April that, when Clarke Schmidt was suddenly scratched from his May 3rd start due to left side soreness, the Yankees turned to Yarbrough for the spot start. Despite a limited pitch count, he provided four innings of one-hit, one-run ball. From that point on, he would remain in the rotation for the next seven weeks, allowing two runs or fewer in seven of his eight starts, including six innings of one-run ball on Sunday Night Baseball to prevent an embarrassing sweep at the hands of the Los Angeles Dodgers on the first day of June. Indeed, his performance in the rotation was so good that, even factoring in his eight-run meltdown against the Boston Red Sox, his ERA as a starting pitcher is still a more-than-acceptable 3.87 — and he earned a 107 ERA+ in that span, which is fantastic for a back-of-the-rotation starter.
Unfortunately, Yarbrough himself joined the walking wounded, as he hit the injured list in late June due to a right oblique strain. That injury kept him off the mound until rosters expanded at the start of September. Due to the emergence of Cam Schlittler and the team’s lack of stability in the bullpen, the Yankees opted to return him to his original role as a multi-inning reliever. He found himself on the outside looking in, though, making only three appearances in the season’s final month, always as an innings-eater in low leverage situations — and never after September 16th.
Despite the fact that he was clearly not in the circle of trust in September, the Yankees clearly liked what they saw from him, as they made it a priority to sign him soon after the offseason began. While nobody will ever mistake him for an ace, with Gerrit Cole and Carlos Rodón expected to miss the start of the season, he represents quality depth capable of providing of filling roles in both the rotation and the bullpen — and that is never a bad thing to have.
