The New York Yankees cut Jacoby Ellsbury and DFA’d Greg Bird and Nestor Cortes Jr.in flurry of roster moves on 40-man roster deadline day
What happens when you have a deep farm system is eventually you have some decisions to make. The New York Yankees have had that for a couple of years now and another example of that was today. There was an 8 pm deadline to protect prospects who were not yet on the 40 man roster. The club had plenty to protect and some decisions to make. Here is the breakdown of what they did
The Yankees made the following roster moves:
— Yankees PR Dept. (@YankeesPR) November 21, 2019
•Added OF Estevan Florial, RHPs Deivi García, Luis Gil, Brooks Kriske, Luis Medina, Nick Nelson & Miguel Yajure to the Major League roster
•Released OF Jacoby Ellsbury
•Designated 1B Greg Bird & LHP Nestor Cortes Jr. for assignment
A lot to unpack here.
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First of all, releasing Ellsbury makes sense. He has not played in a game for the New York Yankees since the 2017 ALCS. He was on the books for $21 million this coming year with a $5 million buyout after that. Yes, insurance was paying for his salary, but when you have so many players to protect, why keep someone who isn’t playing?
The New York Yankees didn’t wait for the non-tender deadline to DFA Bird. Like Ellsbury, Bird has had issues staying healthy. With the performances of Mike Ford and Luke Voit the past two years, plus DJ LeMahieu‘s ability to play there, there’s no reason to keep him on the roster.
With the New York Yankees adding six pitchers to the 40-man roster, it made sense one had to go. I’m sure the decision came down to Cortes or Chance Adams, but the club decided to go with Cortes.
Six of the prospects the New York Yankees protected were a part of their top 30 according to MLB pipeline’s rankings. Of the prospects that could be a part of the club at some point next year, look to Garcia and Nelson to be a part of the big league roster in 2020.
Brian Cashman and the New York Yankees are off to a great start this off-season with these moves. Now about signing Gerrit Cole…