Former Yankees: Esmil Rogers, Jose De Paula still throwing in CPBL

Actual live baseball has started again. The games are taking place in Taiwan and there aren’t any fans in attendance, but it is still live baseball. There are a pair of former New York Yankees looking to extend their careers in the CPBL.

Neither Esmil Rogers nor Jose De Paula made their mark in New York. Both find themselves in the starting rotation for the Chinatrust Brothers.

Rogers has enjoyed a much more extensive career of the two. He first debuted with the Colorado Rockies in 2009 and he’d also pitch for the Cleveland Indians and Toronto Blue Jays before coming to New York via a trade-deadline-day waiver claim. The Yankees would release him exactly one year later.

The 6’3″ right-hander made 36 appearances in his year with the Yankees, posting a 5.59 ERA and 1.500 WHIP in 58 innings. His Yankees career totaled -0.9 bWAR.

Rogers has pitched in Korea, Triple-A for the Nationals, Mexico, the Dominican Winter League, and now Taiwan in his quest to keep his career alive.

De Paula’s Yankees tenure was even shorter. He was originally signed as an amateur free agent in 2006 by the San Diego Padres. By the end of the 2013 season, he was a minor league free agent and he agreed to a deal with the Yankees to provide some upper-level depth.

De Paula made six starts for Triple-A Scranton before getting called up to New York in late June. He got into one game, entering in the sixth inning. He’d finish the game allowing a run on two hits (one a home run by Andrew Romine), walking four and striking out two.

The left-hander was optioned after the game and then designated for assignment a few days later. Following the season the Yankees would grant his release. De Paula has pitched in the Dominican Winter League and Mexico since before joining the Brothers this season.

Rogers went seven innings in his first start of the season, allowing two runs on eight hits with four strikeouts. De Paula went five, allowing two runs on seven hits with six strikeouts. He also picked up the win.

The CPBL is generally a very hitter-friendly league, historically, and consists of four teams — Chinatrust Brothers, Fubon Guardians, Rakuten Monkeys, and the Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions. A fifth, the Wei Chuan Dragons, will join them in 2021. Teams are limited to four international players but those spots often go to Japanese minor leaguers. There are a handful of international players in the league with MLB connections, all of them pitchers.