NEW YORK — The New York Yankees head into the 2026 season with most of the hard questions about their starting rotation answered. The roster conversation this spring has centered on innings limits, four-man versus five-man configurations, and who fills in until Gerrit Cole and Carlos Rodon return from injury. It has been a thorough, reasonable debate. And it has quietly drowned out a louder alarm ringing elsewhere in the pitching staff.
A spring that looked better than it probably was
Manager Aaron Boone was asked last week whether this spring training had been boring. His answer was measured but positive.
“I think for the most part, I feel like it’s been a very good spring for us as far as overall health, guys getting the right amount of reps. Some of our young guys pushing for roles and real playing time are looking the part. I like the place that our depth is in right now. I feel like we can withstand some things and still flourish.”
Boone is not wrong on the health front. Cam Schlittler’s early back soreness resolved quickly. No major injuries hit the position player group. Carlos Lagrange dazzled in limited work. It was, by the metrics most people track during spring training, a quiet and productive camp.
But underneath that surface, the Yankees are heading into Opening Day with a bullpen that needs to be significantly better than it was in 2025. The evidence that it will be is thin.
The numbers that made 2025 so hard to watch
The 2025 Yankees led the American League in run scoring with 849 runs and 274 home runs. They won 94 games. They beat the Red Sox in the Wild Card Series. And then they ran into Toronto in the ALDS and were outscored 34-19 in four games.
The bullpen deserves a significant share of the responsibility for that outcome. The Yankees’ relief corps finished with a 4.37 ERA during the regular season, ranking 23rd in baseball out of 30 teams. That number worsened as the calendar progressed. From Aug. 1 through the end of the regular season, the bullpen posted a 4.74 ERA even after the team acquired David Bednar from Pittsburgh, Camilo Doval from San Francisco, and Jake Bird from Colorado before the July 31 trade deadline.
Then came the postseason. The Yankees’ 6.15 bullpen ERA in October was the worst mark among all 12 playoff teams. The 2024 version of this same group had posted a 3.34 ERA, the best in the majors. The collapse from one year to the next was steep, and the Yankees head into 2026 without having made a significant addition to address it.
Devin Williams and Luke Weaver are gone. The gap remains.
The two departures that most directly affect the relief corps this year were Devin Williams and Luke Weaver, both of whom signed with the cross-town Mets as free agents this offseason. Neither pitcher had a flawless 2025 season. Williams posted a 4.79 ERA in 67 appearances with 18 saves, drawing considerable criticism from the Yankees fan base. Weaver had declined from his elite 2024 form and was shaky in the postseason. But both were experienced, high-leverage arms who logged meaningful innings at the back end of the roster.
Their replacements are a work in progress. Boone confirmed before camp broke that the guaranteed bullpen spots belong to David Bednar, Camilo Doval, Fernando Cruz, Tim Hill, Ryan Yarbrough, and Paul Blackburn. That leaves two or three remaining spots occupied by a combination of Jake Bird, Brent Headrick, and rookie right-hander Cade Winquest, the team’s first Rule 5 Draft pick in 14 years.
The three new experiments that arrived with question marks
Winquest entered camp with a spring ERA of 6.48 in 8.1 innings. He has never pitched above Double-A. As a Rule 5 pick, the Yankees must keep him on their 26-man roster all season or offer him back to the Cardinals on waivers for $50,000. He cannot simply be optioned to Triple-A. The Yankees are locked in.
Boone backed Winquest publicly last week, saying the right-hander had adapted to coaching adjustments and shown enough to stay in the mix.
“We feel like he’s gonna be a good pitcher. I think he’s shown enough to keep himself in that mix for us and to warrant us taking him. We’ll see in the end which way we go. But he’s taken to some of the minor adjustments I know the pitching group has had for him.”
Pitching coach Matt Blake was more specific, noting that the Yankees added a sinker to Winquest’s arsenal this spring to improve his command against right-handed hitters.
“Where his arm slot is and how he spins the ball, we felt like there was opportunity to add that pitch to help control the right-handed hitters a little bit more and minimize some of the contact quality against him.”
Bird, acquired from Colorado at the 2025 trade deadline and held off the postseason roster, posted a spring ERA of 3.24 with better late-camp results. Headrick, the power left-hander who struck out over 30 percent of batters he faced in his brief 2025 Yankees stints, has been the most consistent of the three in spring camp, recording 15 strikeouts against one walk in seven innings. He has minor league options, however, meaning the Yankees can send him down if they choose to protect Winquest’s roster spot.
Boone acknowledges the bullpen concern openly
The Yankees’ manager did not hide from the bullpen conversation ahead of Opening Day. He addressed it directly when discussing the team’s roster composition last week.
“I just want guys taking and grabbing and establishing some bullpen roles. However we break, there’s going to be a few guys that don’t have a ton of experience necessarily.”
That is an unusual thing to say 48 hours before an opener. It is also honest. The Yankees are banking on Bednar as the closer and Doval and Cruz as the primary setup options. Beyond that trio, the back end of this roster is populated by a Rule 5 gamble, a reclamation project, and a power lefty who was left off the postseason roster last fall.
The Yankees‘ rotation conversation dominated the spring for understandable reasons. Cole, Rodon, and Clarke Schmidt are all on the injured list before the first pitch. Luis Gil was left off the Opening Day rotation. Ryan Weathers posted an 11.68 spring ERA and still has a guaranteed spot. Those are real concerns and the rotation coverage they generated was warranted.
But the Yankees lost in October because of their bullpen. The same group that failed them, minus Williams and Weaver and plus a few untested arms, opens Wednesday in San Francisco. That is the part of the roster that should be generating the most concern right now.
What do you think? Any bullpen suggestion for the Yankees?
