With a little more than 24 hours before first pitch of Opening Day, the Yankees are putting the final touches on their active roster. The latest move saw the team select the contract of right-handed reliever Cade Winquest to the big-league roster; Jon Heyman was the first to report the news.
The Yankees selected Winquest from the Cardinals in the Rule 5 Draft, just the ninth player they’ve selected since the inception of the modern Rule 5 Draft in 1965 and their first since Brad Meyers in 2011. He
becomes the first Rule 5 Draft pick to make the Yankees’ Opening Day roster since first baseman Josh Phelps was selected from the Orioles in 2006 (he played 36 games in 2007 before being designated for assignment and claimed by the Pirates). Per the rules of the Draft, the Yankees must keep Winquest on the active roster for the whole season — he cannot be optioned or DFA’d — otherwise they are required to place him on waivers and offer him back to St. Louis should he clear waivers.
The 25-year-old righty was used mostly as a starter in his three seasons between Low-A and Double-A in the Cardinals organization, but the Yankees feel he can best help the team coming out of the bullpen this season. He throws a mid-90s fastball that’s gotten hit pretty hard in his minor league career, but the real weapon in his arsenal is an upper-70s curveball that induced a 46-percent whiff rate in 2025. To the Yankees, that’s fairly worth a back-of-the-bullpen flyer.
The Yankees are hoping Winquest can bounce back from a rocky spring, where he pitched to a 7.20 ERA and 7.45 FIP in nine relief outings lasting ten innings. Fortunately, exhibition play is exhibition play for a reason, and players who appear shaky on the surface often have more to offer when the games actually count and they’re not just working on particular preseason tinkerings. Winquest is the second auditioning player to break camp with the big-league team after the Yankees selected the contract of non-roster invitee Randal Grichuk. Winquest joins Ryan Yarbrough and Paul Blackburn as the low-leverage swingmen in the Yankees bullpen, all three capable of making a spot start in an emergency.
The 26-man roster is now almost full with Winquest’s addition, though they could open another spot by optioning Luis Gil as they use a four-man rotation for the first two weeks of the season. As it stands, Brent Headrick and Jake Bird appear to be competing for the last spot, with Osvaldo Bido lurking as a wild card as well since he’s on the 40-man and not yet demoted either. One of those three could be the 26th man, or perhaps there could be two if Gil is sent down. We’ll find out soon enough.
