Yankees Roster Turnover Continues Following McCann Trade

Only a few hours after Brian McCann was officially dealt to the Houston Astros, the Yankees announced a slew of roster moves.

As the temperature of the MLB hot stove reaches a boiling point, Yankees general manager Brian Cashman continues to wheel and deal, remaking the organization in his own image.

Injured right-hander Nathan Eovaldi, lefty Joe Mantiply (who was recently claimed from the Detroit Tigers), and right-hander Nick Rumbelow were each designated for assignment.

No one should be surprised that the Yankees decided to part ways with the 26-year-old Eovaldi — as Tommy John surgery performed back in August is likely to cost him the entire 2017 season. On top of that, the Texas native was arbitration eligible this offseason, before becoming a first-time free agent at the conclusion of ’17.

While it’s still possible that the Yankees resign Eovaldi in a stash and dash type deal, it’ll have to be on an extremely team-friendly two-year deal with a club option for a third. After all, at one brief time in 2015, Eovaldi looked like a clear-cut No. 2 option for the Yanks.

Branden Pinder, another righty who went under the knife with a torn UCL this past season was given his walking papers as well.

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With so many players bidding adieu, the Yankees moved six youngsters, including four pitchers to the big league 40-man roster. The most well known of the Minor Leaguers are No. 3 overall prospect Jorge Mateo, and No. 7 Miguel Andujar (according to MLB.com).

As for the shooters, it’ll be No. 25 ranked left-hander Dietrich Enns, Giovanny Gallegos, Ronald Herrera, and Yefrey Ramirez getting the bump in designation.

An hour or so later, Cashman swung a deal that sent hard-throwing, yet rarely used lefty James Pazos to the Seattle Mariners for their No. 12 prospect, pitcher, Zack Littell. Littell an 11th round pick back in 2013, has three solid pitches, including a fastball that reaches 93mph, and a fall off the table curveball.

While many in baseball circles liked the makeup of Pazos, at 25, it was becoming clear that the Yankees didn’t value him quite so high — which is the reason why the Yanks were able to pull a quality farm hand for a guy with just 8.1 innings of Major League experience — although he did shine at Triple-A in 2016 with a 1.79 ERA and 78 strikeouts in 60.1 innings pitched.

Last but not least, the Yankees requested release waivers on 28-year-old utility man Dustin Ackley. Ackley was another victim of the injury bug in ’16, only amassing 70 at-bats before season-ending shoulder surgery shelved him for the season. Ackley was projected to make $3.2M in arbitration this offseason, so it was all but a forgone conclusion the Yankees would say sayonara to the former No. 2 pick out of the University of North Carolina.

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Obviously, the bulk of these moves were made to add certain guys to the 40-man roster, for fear of losing them in the Rule 5 draft, but keep an eye on the names mentioned above. In the past, teams have used this method of inclusion to boost a certain amount of value to a player who has already interested other clubs. And as we heard late last week, a number of teams were checking in on third base prospect Andujar.