40 Man Roster Review - Yoendrys Gómez (SP)

Still technically a rookie, Gómez pitched 11.1 innings for the Yankees in 2024. All of these were incredibly low leverage, but he wrapped those with a < 4.00 ERA (3.97). 5 of his appearances were clean including 4.2 clean on June 21 against Atlanta. In AAA, he had 93 strikeouts across 83.1 IP and a 3.67 ERA. I like that as something that could be tapped into this year...

Yoendrys Gómez throws primarily a 2 pitch mix of slider and overall grades out as with average stuff, with the slider being the ++ pitch in his arsenal according to Stuff+. On the flip side, the slider grades out as negative run value. Alas. Candidly, there is not much MLB level footage of this anyway, I was trying to scour.

Here's a nice called strike on the corner with the SL:

Floor: regresses and gets stuck in AAA or shipped off to another team.

Ceiling: same season as last year, slight uptick in appearances, 5-10 total for the season, I don't see him becoming a mainstay in the bullpen this year, not much upside until we see more.

40 Man Roster Review - Scott Effross (RP)

Scott Effross has pitched in 16 games for the New York Yankees. In 3 seasons. What do I even know about this man at this point?

He's at a 2.81 ERA across those games, but is that really a sample size worth celebrating? He's 30 years old, but under team control for forever, so I guess it's worth discussing?

Another sinker, slider guy. He's got good stuff, don't get me wrong, he's just one of those 'ghost' Yankees at this point. Reminds me of, what's that guys name? Ben Rortvedt. Quick number crunch and Ben actually played in 2x the number of games as Scott here. Another 'ghost' Yankee.

Anyway, Effross pitched in 3.1 innings for the Yankees in 2024 and gave up this 2-run homer to Jordan Walker, which kinda soiled any chance at this being a positive data look. That said, this pitch HUNG:

Not too much to really say here, he could have a solid season and be a contributor, but he could also get hurt again and fall back off the radar. I know I haven't said a single positive word so far, but I do think I actually like his stuff to be a mid-leverage arm. Looking at his career splits, he's a bit of a lefty neutralizer, so maybe that's the angle here as well.

Floor: hurt and/or off the Yankees, stuck hurt and lingering in AAAA

Ceiling: solid mid-to-high leverage contributor for the Yankees.

40 Man Roster Review - Yerry De Los Santos (RP)

I'm going to attempt to do some type of review for all the current players on the Yankees 40 Man Roster. I'm sure that some of these will be almost immediately out of date, but just a 'fun' offseason task.

We're going to start with those players currently in the minors and work our way up to Judge, Cole, etc.

Acknowledging that, with some of these, this might be the first time that I'm really looking at these players critically so part of this will just be even remotely familiarizing myself with their careers to-date. I'll also try to do a floor/ceiling review for each of them for the 2025 season.

We'll start with Yerry De Los Santos...

Yerry was added to the 40M on 11/4. He spent all of 2024 in AAA after being signed as a free agent last year. Across 59 IP last year, he had an ERA over 4 with 8.39 K/9 (up slightly over his career baseline).

95mph Sinker, slider, change mix.

There does seem to be some solid spin on his off-speed pitches:

Fangraphs has his slider as his ++ pitch with 104 Stf+, but across the board, we're talking about fairly average to below-average arsenal, with fairly limited upside. He uses that slider about 20% of the time, here's an example:

Hard to really gauge expected impact from someone with 0 innings at the major league level in 2024, but this feels like a classic situation where he'll be a AAAA kinda call up or he'll be shipped off to a team that needs arms.

Floor: Remains buried in AAA or traded to a team that needs arms at the major league level.

Ceiling: Low leverage arm in the Yankees 2024 bullpen if other pieces are traded away, he still has options  to play with. The Yankees pitching staff could unlock something here, but my expectations are low.

12.23.24

Offseason update and thoughts...

We need one more move to be made, but it's been a busy week or two.

Max Fried feels like it could be Rodon 2.0 - paying ace money for someone who is just an inning eater. Rodon had 175 innings last year at nearly a 4.00 ERA. His contract looks cheap now only a few years later, but how many inning eaters does one staff need.

Over under for Fried 2025 ERA - 3.50. I'll take the under, but barely.

Devin Williams - good pick up. I like him as the closer and Weaver as the set up man. I guess they'll need to make a decision post-2025 on who gets the role, or they can just bring them both back? I think I like Williams the most of the 4 deals, but a back injury scares me.

Over under for Williams saves - 27.5. I think he gets hurt again (sadly). I'll take the under.

Cody Bellinger.....could be the best move or the worst move. Hard to tell at this stage. It's not my money, but the contract is definitely tough. I like the move overall though. I like him the most in LF and let Jasson play CF.

Over under for Cody OPS - a nice clean .800. I'll be over the moon if the over hits. I'll choose to be optimistic here and hammer the over.

Paul Goldschmidt - again, not my money. I think it's a good 'buy low' contract, but I'm a bit skeptical. Truly, anything is an upgrade at 1B after last year, but this is one that I don't see going well. Remember Jay Bruce? If we get solid defense with the threat of pop, I'm mostly happy.

Over under for Goldy HRs - 20. I will sadly take the under.