Yankees: 3 extremely cheap bullpen targets as Spring Training approaches
By Adam Weinrib

1. Justin Wilson
The Yankees could welcome Justin Wilson back from the other side of town.
Hey, we’re on a lefty kick!
The first time the Yankees acquired Justin Wilson, it was an absolute coup; he came over from the Pirates for Francisco Cervelli and immediately slotted in as a Wild Card team’s seventh-inning guy.
Then, as suddenly as he arrived, he was gone again, dealt to Detroit following the 2015 season in exchange for…Cessa and Green! Who knew?
All the now-33-year-old Wilson’s done in the intervening years is deal, outside of a good peripherals/bad results stretch in Chicago after the 2017 deadline. After posting 2.54 and 3.66 ERAs with strong strikeout numbers over the past two years in Flushing, someone’s going to get a one-year steal in Wilson, who can’t possibly cost more than O’Day, and likely settles into Watson territory.
As Yankees fans know, he’s a lefty who thrives against batters on both sides of the plate — though, to be fair, righties bludgeoned him in a small sample size in 2020 (2020, who cares). In his previous full season in 2019, they combined to hit just .232 as a unit off Wilson, striking out 27 times in 109 PAs. In fact, Wilson’s strikeout-to-walk ratio was far superior against opposite-siders (3.38 to 1.55).
There’s still room on any modern baseball team for Wilson, even with a draconian batter minimum applied. And if he doesn’t have to hold down seventh inning duties and can instead be deployed whenever he’s needed most? All the better.