3 Yankees players who've already proven they don't belong on roster after May 1

Just 10+ days into the MLB season, every team already features several players who aren't quite pulling their weight. For most clubs, these players exist at the fringes of their roster, easily sliced off at the slightest warning. Unfortunately for the New York Yankees, two of the three members of the current roster who don't quite fit are in the starting rotation.

That's hardly a recipe for success.

The Yankees' bats have managed to match and outpace their pitching woes for the majority of the start of the season, but one cold snap in Detroit showed exactly what it can look like when good hitting faces good pitching (in suboptimal conditions), and one side doesn't have the arms to go pitch-for-pitch.

Don't expect the Yankees' roster to be turnover-free this season. Several names won't survive until the trade deadline, and some of the shuffles are going to come even sooner. These players have already proven they probably don't belong in the big leagues by May 1, and may be demoted or dealt with sooner than that.

3 New York Yankees who don't belong on the MLB roster past May 1

Will Warren, RHP

After a dazzling spring training, the hope was that rookie Will Warren would embody Michael King (and Luis Gil) to begin the 2025 season, erasing any fears about Gerrit Cole's absence (and Gil himself departing to the IL) with a too-good-to-be-true sprint through the season's start.

Unfortunately, the few reminders of Warren's own mortality that he displayed at the end of camp (on the road against Baltimore, in one final showcase in Miami) have lingered into the regular season.

Rest assured, it's all in there for Warren. He has the stuff. He has the tenacity. He currently is getting a college course in taking lumps and pushing through it; in much the same way he was last season, he's being punished when he misses location through his first two starts.

There absolutely is a lane for Warren to impact this team this season; rotations go eight deep these days for a reason. In the meantime, though, he hasn't shown any reason why he shouldn't be demoted to continue working on himself when Clarke Schmidt returns from building up in the minors. That should be the next time through the Yankees' rotation.

Carlos Carrasco, RHP

Every time the New York Yankees receive a passable-to-good start from Carlos Carrasco, their last-minute fill-in in the No. 5 spot, they should be thrilled. It's a bonus. The team is objectively worse off without Gerrit Cole atop the rotation, and the meaty middle of their five-man core has also been decimated. These are the slings and arrows they've been forced to deal with.

That said, while Carrasco is the best they've got for the time being, and they need to protect him as an asset rather than lose him for nothing, he can certainly be upgraded upon. The two-seamer occasionally takes on a life of its own and demonizes opposing hitters ... but if it leaks into the barrel, it doesn't have the velocity to be valuable. Too many of Carrasco's other offerings have aged poorly. The Tigers are a strong team and an AL Central contender, but the veteran righty's meltdown inning, in which he allowed three home runs in icy Detroit, should tell you all you need to know about his stopgap status.

For now, Carrasco is fine, and the Yankees will hit, in better offensive environments. But the longer they stick with him (or get stuck with him), the worse off they are.

Pablo Reyes, IF

At the end of spring training, the Yankees made their decision very clear: they prized Pablo Reyes' versatility over Dom Smith's bat in their bench veteran role. They also appeared to prize Reyes' ability to mash left-handers over their own internal infield backup plan, Oswald Peraza. Would Peraza even fly north with the team, or would they find a last-minute trading partner? Would Reyes get all the platoon reps moving forward, and even some in the outfield to boot?

As it turns out, Reyes has stunningly been the one deemphasized over Peraza to begin the season, in a complete reversal from the best-laid plans of Aaron Boone and Co.

Reyes' cavalcade of errors in the Yankees' second game of the year - his first start - were not obscured by the 20-9 drubbing New York's offense put on the Brewers that afternoon. Peraza's late pinch-hit home run was also subtly notable. Since that day, Reyes has entered late in three separate games, but hasn't earned a second start, going 0-for-6 in total.

Nothing the Yankees were impressed with from Reyes this spring has translated to the regular season, and he's come dangerously close to the 2024 Trent Grisham Zone already (hasn't played enough to find a rhythm, hasn't earned more reps with his performance thus far). Based on their playing time patterns, the Yankees won't be afraid to move on here, either.