Should Yankees Claim Recently DFA’d Manny Banuelos?

The New York Yankees have the opportunity to reunite two members of the vaunted “Killer B’s” this weekend after the Atlanta Braves designated Manny Banuelos for assignment Friday.

A two-time Baseball America Top 100 prospect while in the New York Yankees system, Manny Banuelos was perhaps the most talented of the group of arms writers dubbed the “Killer B’s.” Along with Dellin Betances and Andrew Brackman, Banuelos was thought by many to be an ace in the making for the Yankees.

Instead, the 25-year-old lefthander has struggled with injuries and ineffectiveness the last two seasons since he was shipped to Atlanta for David Carpenter and Chasen Shreve. Even though neither of the relievers the Yankees received have really worked out well, they have won that trade more or less by default. That’s how bad Banuelos has been.

Jon Heyman of Today’s Knuckleball reported Friday that the Braves have designated Man-Ban for assignment right after activating him from the 15-day disabled list. He has been rocked across multiple levels during his recent rehab assignments, and clearly Atlanta feels like he doesn’t have anything left. 

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The Yankees have been on the hunt for pitching depth since shipping Aroldis Chapman and Andrew Miller out of town at the deadline. In recent days they have signed released lefty Tommy Layne and claimed Blake Parker off waivers from the Mariners. Yankees GM Brian Cashman is not too proud to go rooting around in other team’s trash bins.

Banuelos probably isn’t going to help any big league club this year, but he could represent an intriguing long-term project for a team willing to roll the dice. He still has five years of control remaining and anyone can pick him up for the league minimum. If the Yankees don’t like what they see, they can cut him with no harm done this winter.

Cashman loves betting on top talent, and no organization knows Banuelos better than the team that signed him all the way back in 2008 as a teenage international free agent. He spent seven years in their minor league system and was often considered one of their top prospects. At the very least there must be some lingering fondness from some baseball ops people.

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Banuelos also had a couple of nice big league starts as recently as last year. Don’t forget he had a 1.08 ERA with 13 strikeouts through his first four turns through the rotation last season. There still might be something there. One of the fun things about rebuilding is the Yankees can take risks like this with no real downside.

They’re bad anyway. Who cares if he’s bad too?