Yankees make first round of spring training cuts with one surprise

The Opening Day roster is beginning to slowly come into focus. The New York Yankees made a series of moves on Friday in what ended up being their first reassignments of spring training.

As we continue to debate who will be with the team on April 1, it appears as if one fan-favorite candidate will have to wait his turn to make his Yankees debut in 2021.

The team optioned the five players they protected from the Rule 5 Draft — Luis Gil, Luis Medina, Oswald Peraza, Alexander Vizcaino and Yoendrys Gomez — to various levels of the minor leagues. Despite Medina’s incredible winter, he won’t be breaking camp with the Bombers.

But perhaps the most surprising move is Adam Warren being assigned to minor league camp.

Warren’s been impressive in his outings, but he’s only seen three innings of work, and we have to admit, guys like Lucas Luetge, Jonathan Loaisiga and Nick Nelson have looked really good thus far. If Warren can be stashed at Triple-A and shuttled between there and the big league roster when the Yankees need some reinforcements, then so be it. But we’re not sure if he’d agree to that.

Nonetheless, it’s somewhat odd considering the bullpen competition has ramped up following Zack Britton’s injury, especially since Warren is back to full health.

Other than that, everything was fairly run of the mill, though we’re not sure what Estevan Florial’s future role with this team will be. He’s already back at Triple-A and he’s completely blocked by the team’s current cast of outfielders.

Ah, you thought Austin Wells could be an Opening Day candidate, didn’t you? Or, he’d at least remain with the team a bit longer? Well, don’t worry! We’ll probably see him later in the year when rosters expand and if his bat continues to impress wherever he begins the season.

As for the team’s other top prospects, Josh Breaux, Anthony Siegler, Glenn Otto and Ezequiel Duran will be sent down to minor league camp and continue their work there.

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