Yankees: 3 players who could surprisingly not make Opening Day roster

1. Domingo German

Did we really surprise you here? We hope not. Domingo German has not handled his “situation” well at all. He hasn’t pitched since September of 2019 after being placed on administrative leave and subsequently suspended for violating MLB’s domestic violence policy.

He finally addressed his teammates this week and “apologized” when also finally facing the media for the first time in 17 months. He didn’t mention his girlfriend — the alleged victim in the incident — at all. He apologized to the Yankees, his teammates, Boone, Brian Cashman and Hal Steinbrenner. Quite literally the last group of people that deserve an apology.

To make matters worse? He read from a piece of paper the entire time and showed zero emotion. Not a shred of remorse in his voice.

On top of being on thin ice because of this and being called out by his teammates, German isn’t exactly what you’d call “good.” He’s pitched in 55 career games since debuting in 2017 and delivered a somewhat promising 2019 campaign before his behavior shelved him.

He’ll be looking to grab the No. 5 spot in the rotation, but during a Q&A on Friday, Lindsey Adler of The Athletic surmised that Deivi Garcia could earn that job and that Jhoulys Chacin “has been mentioned a few times,” perhaps in rumblings about the competition.

There’s already a ton of baggage tied to German. If his play during the spring can’t justify the Yankees keeping him on board, he could easily be let go, traded or optioned, and we’d certainly characterize it as an unsurprising surprise.

Yankees: 3 non-roster invitees who could make the 2021 roster

The New York Yankees have a few hangers-on below their 40-man roster who could easily make the team out of spring training.