The pitching wasn’t pretty, but the Yankees survived an 11-10 slugfest with the Los Angeles Angels on Monday night in the opener of their four-game set. They did, however, decide that they needed relief reinforcements before they played another game.
Immediately after the marathon on Monday, the Yanks demoted right-handed pitcher Jake Bird to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Initially acquired from the Colorado Rockies before the 2025 Trade Deadline with the hopes that his ERA wasn’t indicative of
the stuff he could provide, Bird unfortunately has yet to take flight.
Bird was quickly demoted last year following three bad games, and though he made the Opening Day roster, 2026 hasn’t gone much better. Memories of a few solid outings in San Francisco and Seattle were quickly tarnished in a blown loss to the Marlins on April 5th where he failed to record an out and allowed three runs. He was then a bit shaky against the A’s and Rays before getting roughed up by the Angels—particularly Mike Trout. In seven innings on the season, he has a 7.71 ERA, and blowing multiple leads in last night’s game appeared to be the last straw.
In his place, the Yankees called up another bullpen contender from spring training: Yerry De los Santos. The righty pitched for the Pittsburgh Pirates from 2022-23 and has spent the last few seasons as a Yankees Triple-A depth option, primarily sticking in Scranton. Last season though, De los Santos did make it into 25 games for the Bombers and did yeoman’s work as a middle reliever, racking up 35.2 innings across 25 games and separate call-ups between April 27th through August 25th. De los Santos notched 28 strikeouts, a 3.38 ERA (81 ERA-), and a 3.44 FIP (coincidentally, an 81 FIP-).
The Yankees elected to go with Bird and Rule 5 pick Cade Winquest as the last men in their 2026 bullpen on Opening Day, but with Winquest returned to the Cardinals upon Luis Gil’s activation and Bird demoted, an opening was there for De los Santos. The 28-year-old did his part to make a case for it, as in 9.1 innings early on for the RailRiders, he’d allowed just two runs on six hits, fanning 13 with a 1.93 ERA and 0.964 WHIP. The Yankees preferred to select someone already on the larger 40-man roster, and De los Santos got the nod over Angel Chivilli and Kervin Castro. The offseason trade pickup Chivilli had actually pitched a little better, but he is seen as someone who is more of a post-Rockies project like Bird, so it’s understandable to take the safer pick in De los Santos.
The Yankees’ bullpen to this point has been a bit of a concern, and De los Santos—while only having pitched in limited innings for the club to this point—has been a decent option to turn to when things get tight for Aaron Boone and his staff. The best-case, of course, is that the Yankees get into a blowout victory situation and De los Santos can soak up some innings for his 2026 debut. Regardless, he’ll be ready and waiting.
