Yankees: NYY call up pitcher who is not Clarke Schmidt

Somehow, the Yankees managed to call up a pitcher who is not Clarke Schmidt!

When the Yankees dismissed three players — including Miguel Andujar — to the Alternate Site on Thursday, most fans immediately jumped into Clarke Schmidt Mode.

Aaron Boone did assure us he’d contribute sooner rather than later, right? And didn’t we all just watch JA Happ be unable to protect an early multi-run lead for the second straight incredibly unhelpful start?

This is a sprint, right? Go with your best for as long as you can, yeah?

Unfortunately, the corresponding move for Thursday’s exodus wasn’t Schmidt. It wasn’t a particularly interesting option, either. Welcome, local boy Nick Tropeano, to the Yankees roster!

I mean, it’s definitely cool for Tropeano, a non-roster invitee this spring, to make his hometown club (West Islip born and raised, folks). He also deserves better fanfare for his Yankees debut — the soft-tosser had a 3.56 ERA in 13 starts with the Angels back in 2016 as a 25-year-old. There’s potential there for him to be an innings eater with a big, looping curveball.

But Yankees fans crave the big move. And that type of maneuver definitely involved giving Schmidt, the team’s top prospect who showed no fear of big league bats during Spring Training and Summer Camp, as many starts as possible.

After all, what’s the alternative for his development? Some Scranton soft-toss?

Perhaps this Tropeano move is simply meant to allow for some innings to be eaten the next few days, and then the much-ballyhooed Schmidt move will happen.

After all, the Yankees play another seven-inning doubleheader this weekend against the Tampa Bay Rays. Maybe the next time Happ’s spot comes up in the rotation, the NYY will send Tropeano back in favor of our man?

We won’t get our hopes up, though.

Tropeano should be valuable and proved his mettle in Summer Camp. We can’t help but keep the glint in our eye for the other guy, though.