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Yankees: Facing and solving the 40-man roster conundrum

By Steve Contursi |
Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports
Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports

Yankees fans, and more specifically, avid readers at Yanks Go Yard, are very adept and knowledgeable when it comes to pointing out inconsistencies in what they read. Recently, comments have been focusing on the team’s 40-man roster and the problems associated with it and potential callups. Let’s take a look.

The Yankees, like all major teams, must play by the rules set down by Major League Baseball. One of those rules states that a player can only be called up to the major leagues if he is on the team’s 40-man roster.

And when you look at the Yankees current 40-man roster, you’ll immediately notice the absence, as just one example, of Chance Adams, who is almost always mentioned in a discussion about the Yankees starting rotation and who the team might call on for help.

In effect, what this means is that if the team wanted to call up Adams, they would need to subtract one man from the roster in order make Adams eligible.

Easier said than done, especially since every man on the roster is there for a good reason. But let’s play GM for a minute to see what we can come up with. We’ll look at the pitchers first and then follow up tomorrow with the position players. Each of those listed is on the 40-man roster but not on the Yankees active 25-man roster.

Pitchers First

Dietrich Enns
Currently with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre (SWB). Has made two starts with no decisions and has a 1.64 ERA over 11 innings of work. Enns is no longer listed on MLB’s Top 30 Prospects list of the Yankees.

Giovanny Gallegos
Currently with SWB, but has been called twice by the Yankees. Limited to nine appearances, he’s posted a 7.15 ERA with the big club. Gallegos is now listed as the team’s #30 top prospect. In 12 relief appearance with SWB, Gallegos is 0-1 with a 3.00 ERA

Ben Heller
Heller is a relief specialist who has appeared in 23 games for SWB, holding opponents to a .191 batting average, while compiling an ERA of 2.71. He is not listed on MLB’s Top 30 for the Yankees.

Ronald Herrera
Herrera is having a pretty good year at Double-A Trenton. In nine starts, he’s 8-0 with a 1.13 ERA and is holding batters to a .173 average. He’s not a fireballer and sports a change-up as his out pitch. Herrera, too, is not among the organization’s Top 30 prospects according to MLB.

Bryan Mitchell
Mitchell is a familiar name to Yankees fans. Over four years, he has made 39 appearances with the Yankees, including eight spot starts. He was in contention for the fifth spot in the rotation that went to Jordan Montgomery.

Yefry Ramirez
This lanky Dominican is currently assigned to Double-A Trenton where he has a 6-3 record over 12 starts. He averages a strikeout an inning, but he also has 26 walks in 60 innings pitched. Again, he does not appear in the Yankees Top 30 prospects list.

Who stays and who goes

Six pitchers, six names. Candidly, at first glance, I don’t see what the problem is. None of these guys light me up as much as a Chance Adams or a Justus Sheffield, or a James Kaprielian if he can come back healthy next year.

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And with the exception of Bryan Mitchell and the two Double-A pitchers who deserve a look at the Triple-A level before any decision is made on them, the others are expendable, or better yet, tradeable to open up a spot.

Adams and Sheffield are coming, and that train has already pulled out of the station. Enns and Gallegos have been given an adequate opportunity to catch the attention of the Yankees, but have failed to do so in any meaningful way.

Obviously, this is all open to debate and discussion. But that’s my two cents.

Tomorrow, we’ll take a look at the position players.

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