NEW YORK — The Yankees spent the final weekend of August patching a pitching staff held together by tape and call-ups, and the fixes did not stop when the games ended.
A bullpen that leaned on eight relievers across a Saturday doubleheader against the Boston Red Sox needed reinforcements. Injuries had thinned it to the point that manager Aaron Boone admitted before Sunday’s finale that he was unsure how his team would reach the finish line. The Yankees answered by shuffling arms, and the churn set up a bigger question.
Fernando Cruz, one of the most trusted relievers in the Yankees bullpen, is dealing with a partial tear of his ulnar collateral ligament, an injury that puts surgery on the table and very likely ends his season. Left-hander Ryan Weathers is on the injured list with a forearm flexor strain and is not expected back until late September. The depth behind them has been stretched thin all year, with the Yankees using a parade of relievers to survive a playoff race. Cruz became the 17th Yankee to land on the injured list this season, a number that captures how little slack the roster has carried.
Those absences forced the first move. On Saturday, the Yankees recalled right-hander Luis Gil from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and optioned reliever Yerry De Los Santos in the corresponding transaction. De Los Santos had been leaned on hard over the weekend, appearing in both ends of the doubleheader after surrendering a decisive home run in the earlier series loss to the Houston Astros. The Yankees needed a fresher arm, and Gil had been building one at Triple-A. Boone has spent much of the second half managing a bullpen without margin, and the recall gave him one more option for the West Coast trip that starts this week.
That recall was only the opening act. The Yankees are now seriously weighing another roster move, this one behind the plate, and a ticking clock is forcing the issue.
Luis Gil returns in a relief role, not a rotation one
Gil’s return tells its own story about where the Yankees see immediate value. The club did not stretch him out as a starter at Triple-A. Instead, he made three relief appearances for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, striking out six and walking three while averaging 96.1 mph on his fastball, according to reporting from ESPN’s Jorge Castillo that circulated Saturday.
The usage is the tell. A pitcher the Yankees once considered a rotation piece is now a live bullpen arm for the stretch run. Gil, the 2024 American League Rookie of the Year, still misses bats, and the velocity held even as his command wavered. The Yankees have even explored using him as a late-season opener, but for a bullpen missing Cruz and Weathers, the simpler path is short relief, where strikes and a fresh fastball matter more than a title.
The bullpen math is just as tight. Cruz finished with a 3.13 ERA across 61 games as Boone’s fireman before the elbow gave out. Replacing that kind of leverage arm with a patchwork of options like Gil is the challenge the Yankees now face every night.
Why the next Yankees move carries a deadline
Veteran catcher Mitch Garver has triggered an assignment clause in his minor league contract, and the club must decide within days whether to promote him, trade him or let him walk.
The Garver situation is bound by the calendar. His clause, also called an upward mobility clause, gives the other 29 clubs until 3 p.m. ET on Monday to tell the Yankees they would put him on a major league roster. If a team steps forward, the Yankees then have 48 hours to add Garver themselves or trade him. If no one bites, he stays in the organization on his current deal.
Layered on top is a postseason cutoff. A player must be in an organization by noon ET on Tuesday, Sept. 1, to be eligible for a playoff roster. That window turns a quiet Triple-A decision into a time-sensitive one for a Yankees club chasing October, and it explains why the front office is moving now.
The Yankees signed Garver to a minor league deal on Aug. 7 after the Seattle Mariners released him, hunting for the right-handed catcher they failed to land at the trade deadline. He reported to Tampa for defensive and swing tweaks before joining Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, and the clause was always the pressure point.
What the Yankees are saying about the catching call
The catching question has been building for weeks. Backup Ali Sanchez has slumped at the plate and drawn scrutiny for defensive lapses, including a passed ball that let a run score against Boston and an errant throw that cost the Yankees a game against the Chicago White Sox in late July.
Sanchez is out of minor league options, which raises the stakes of any addition. The clearest signal of the Yankees’ intentions came from New York Post reporter Joel Sherman, who described a front office already leaning toward a change before Garver forced the timeline.
“The Yankees are seriously contemplating whether to bring Mitch Garver to the majors, and are nearing deadlines that will force a decision,” Sherman wrote.
Because Sanchez cannot be sent down without clearing waivers, promoting Garver would most likely mean designating Sanchez for assignment, unless the Yankees carry three catchers. That is the domino the decision hinges on.
A thin margin behind the plate and in the bullpen
Garver would not be a promotion earned by a hot month. He is hitting .179 with a .324 on-base percentage and no home runs across 34 plate appearances in eight Triple-A games, a tiny and unproductive sample.
The appeal is his resume. Garver has spent parts of 10 major league seasons, hit 31 home runs for the Minnesota Twins in 2019, won a Silver Slugger and helped the Texas Rangers to the 2023 World Series title. The internal Yankees alternative is J.C. Escarra, who has backed up Austin Wells the last two seasons and offers steadier defense with better minor league production.
If a rival claims interest by Monday afternoon, the Yankees will have two days to keep him or ship him out. If not, the choice is theirs alone, with the postseason-eligibility deadline looming the next morning. Either way, the club that spent the weekend rebuilding its pitching staff is not done reshaping the roster, and the next move could arrive before the West Coast trip is a game old.
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