Yankees: Projecting New York’s Full 30-Man Roster for 2020 Season

2020 Yankees Roster: Pitchers

The New York Yankees have a well-stocked bullpen and rotation.

SP: Gerrit Cole, Masahiro Tanaka, James Paxton, JA Happ, Jordan Montgomery (5)

Bullpen: Aroldis Chapman, Zack Britton, Tommy Kahnle, Adam Ottavino, Chad Green, Jonathan Loaisiga, Jonathan Holder, Luis Cessa, Michael King (9)

Of course, necessary reminder: MLB players can opt out of the 2020 season, and Tanaka feels like a leading candidate to do so. He fled to Japan when the pandemic started, his logistics are very confusing, and he’s theoretically a free agent to be who might not want a sordid 60-game campaign as your last memory of his work before hitting the open market.

Gerrit Cole’s wife is also pregnant. He would not receive service time if he opted not to play. For now, we’ll pencil both in. This is how the rotation seemed likely to shake out at the end of Spring Training, and we see no reason to alter things now.

For the excess bullpen spots, we opted to carry Michael King over Ben Heller, choosing a potential spot starter over the sometimes-erratic short man who’s still fighting his way back from injury, and could still use some Instructional League time before being wedged into the 2020 campaign. New York liked what they saw from King, and you could do far worse from the last man in this beastly ‘pen. Cessa and Loaisiga will also, presumably, get starting opportunities.

In a tightly-packed bundle of a season, a strong bullpen is worth double, and New York has both the depth and ability to shorten games and keep arms fresh for this extended stretch run.

Hopefully, circumstances allow us to watch what should be an incredibly fun and unique ride.