3 Yankees DFA candidates who could lose 40-man roster spot before Opening Day

The New York Yankees don’t have a roster crunch on their hands just yet, but they’ve already cleaned out the easiest moves they can make to clear 40-man space, transferring both Zack Britton and Domingo German to the 60-Day IL.

From hereon out, if the Yanks make an acquisition of any kind — or perhaps want to promote non-roster invitee Marwin Gonzalez to the Opening Day 28-man crew — they’ll have to make a somewhat difficult decision and DFA somebody.

That’ll be an issue. For all his faults, Brian Cashman fine-tuned this 40 with all your favorite prospects and relief options just before the Rule 5 deadline, losing Nick Nelson and Donny Sands to Philadelphia, as well as Clint Frazier, Rougned Odor, Andrew Velazquez and Tyler Wade.

That means this current group is now packed to the brim, and unless Cashman wants to suddenly risk Ron Marinaccio or JP Sears walking for nothing, he’ll probably have to pull off another trade in order to absorb a painful cut.

Hate to be the bearers of bad news here, but luckily, there’s also a silver lining. If New York has to slice anyone loose at this point, it’s likely because they made a meaningful upgrade. Cash will not be undoing his hard work just to bend over backwards for a middle relief signing or, God forbid, a last-minute Brett Gardner signing.

Of course, there’s always Marwin, too. It could … just be Marwin.

In the interest of full transparency and preparedness, these are the three current men on the Yankees’ 40-man roster who might not make it to Opening Day.

3 Yankees players on 40-man roster who could get DFA’d

3. Stephen Ridings

Losing Stephen Ridings for nothing, after so much anticipation and all the 100 MPH promise he showed in 2021, would be devastating.

But, on the surface, he’s the Yankees’ second-easiest cut at the moment. Why? He’s injured and out of action, the same way he was at the tail end of ’21 after his sterling debut.

Would another team take a chance on him? Almost certainly. But Ridings remains unable to pitch due to a back issue that’s kept him off the mound for nearly all of 2022 this far. Whenever he clocks in and begins his ramp up time, he’ll still be a ways away from helping the big-league club. After all, it’s not like he was terribly experienced before his MLB debut either, logging just 29 innings above A-ball (all with the 2021 Yanks at Somerset and Scranton/Wilkes-Barre).

That MLB debut … was sterling, though. In five innings, the flame-throwing substitute teacher with the shock of red hair whiffed seven and allowed just a single earned run. In a second half full of great stories, Ridings stood out as someone who could help down the stretch … before succumbing to a mysterious injury, of course, and losing his role to Michael King and Luis Severino.

The Yankees would love to have Ridings back this season, and took a chance on protecting him last November. If he can’t toe the rubber, though, they may have to reevaluate.

2. Jeisson Rosario

Yeah … yeah, Jeisson Rosario’s probably going to be the first one to Rosari-go.

While most Yankee fans are hoping Brian Cashman just got some Chaim Bloom-style revenge on the man himself by snagging the Red Sox’ roster runoff, Rosario’s stay on the 40-man might be a short one. It’ll take a major directional swerve for the toolsy outfielder to make the Yankees forget about Garrett Whitlock (and reliever Frank German, snagged in the Adam Ottavino trade).

Rosario showed up in the system over the weekend after Boston’s brass cut him loose to finalize Trevor Story. Initially, he showed a good deal of promise as one of two prospects acquired for Mitch Moreland. The now-22-year-old showed wild on-base skills at the minor-league level, posting a .271 average with .368 OBP as an 18-year-old at Low-A Fort Wayne, then following it up with .242 and .372 marks at the next level in 2019.

Unfortunately, he’s never hit for power, blasting three dingers in each of his past three full seasons. Now 22, the “projectability” needs to turn into production sooner rather than later, and the Red Sox (you’re not going to believe this) prioritized Story instead of waiting around.

In response, the Yankees took a flyer on him … but they certainly didn’t make him any promises. Rosario was the centerpiece of a mid-tier veteran trade in 2020, but hasn’t progressed much since that point. If New York can survive carrying him on their roster, they’ll be happy to try him at Somerset and see if they can uncover another athletic outfielder with raw power. If they upgrade their rotation by end of spring, though, he’ll likely be outrighted once more.

Shame, too. The Bombers could always use another interesting spelling variation on “Jason” in their minor-league mix.