Yankees Sign Promising Pitcher, Infielder To Minor League Deals

The New York Yankees have continued their off-season transactions with the signing of Tyler Jones and Jonathan Diaz to minor league contracts.

Diaz provides the Yankees with versatility. He has played five positions in all, including second base, short stop, third base, center field and left field. As a member of the Blue Jays organization, he was utilized at all of those positions in 2015, with the exception of third base. [Related Category]

But he has not fared well offensively. His batting average is a meager .145 in his brief major league service with the Blue Jays and Boston. The Yankees believe he has a tremendous upside, however, and that average came in only 35 major league games.

And the future seems even brighter for Jones. He posted a 2.50 ERA while pitching in the Atlanta Braves system in 2015. That included 65 strike outs and 22 saves in 54 innings. He was dominant in Class A, allowing no runs with six saves in ten games. Atlanta wasted no time in promoting him to Double- A. There Jones added 16 more saves in 39 appearances. His ERA in Double-A was a solid 3.07.

The move follows on the heels of the Yankees acquiring right handed pitcher Kirby Yates from the Indians last Friday. And General Manager Brian Cashman continues to work the phone for more improvements.

"“Our rotation is full,” Cashman said, according to MLB.com. “Obviously, we have had a lot of conversations to improve all aspects of our club. We will continue to do that. Some are not realistic. Listen, I know that speaking to our fan base, I know that I think they would like to see protection in all aspects of the roster.“That’s always our intent, too, but as we continue to manipulate and maneuver the roster and try to get younger and also better and toward a brighter future, but also at the same time have a championship effort in the present, it takes time.”"

More yankees: Yankees Sign Reliever Kirby Yates

With two more moves, time is something the Yankees are not wasting.