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

By Adam Weinrib |
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The New York Yankees are lucky this spring in that most of their injuries have come with clear 40-man roster contingency plans lined up behind them.

Of course, they're also not so lucky because they've seen player after player in the Opening Day plans go down. But that's to be expected for this franchise.

Among the trouble spots are the rotation, where Domingo Germán and Clarke Schmidt have gone from insurance pieces to Nos. 4 and 5 starters. The bullpen could use a few new names, considering Schmidt has vacated his role and Lou Trivino/Tommy Kahnle are both down for the count.

There's also the Yankees' top trouble spot in center field, where they've been impressed by Rafael Ortega at the plate, someone who has a big-league track record of success and can help fill in for Harrison Bader (Ortega had a 121 OPS+ just two seasons ago in 2021).

To get him on the roster, though, the Yankees will have to knock someone off their 40-man. Ben Rortvedt is an obvious 60-Day IL candidate, which could do it; you'd have to imagine the severity of aneurysm surgery will have him on the shelf for longer than the "one month" that was initially floated.

Oh, yeah, and did we mention they might need a catcher if Jose Trevino's wrist issue lingers? Nick Ciuffo, come on down. But who does he replace?

Beyond Rortvedt, though (let's say he's healthy, for the purposes of this experiment), there are a few other trades/DFAs the Yankees can pull off to get fresh arms and outfielders.

3 DFAs/trades Yankees could make to open up 40-man roster spots

3. Estevan Florial

Is Estevan Florial going to be the Yankees' center fielder on Opening Day? What about on the bench? Probably not? Unless the Yankees are dead-set on holding onto him after rarely giving him a chance these past few years (as his bat came up empty in every big-league cameo), odds aren't in his favor.

Florial's out of minor-league options, so if the Yankees choose Ortega or Willie Calhoun over him for the 26th roster spot, he'll have to be placed on waivers. The team's only choices with Florial are to play him or to DFA him to plop another outfielder in his roster spot.

The Yankees have been very clear this spring that they don't want to make roster decisions based only on Spring Training results, but Florial's offensive struggles have been tough to ignore; he's 4-for-29, although he's picked up a homer and five stolen bases.

He's pled his case recently, stating, "I know that I can be as good as anyone." But he doesn't have much longer to prove that on the field, especially in the wake of a 3-for-35 stint during an extended big-league shot in 2022.

2. Deivi Garcia

After successive seasons where a DFA always seemed to be around the corner, it now feels unlikely that Garcia's roster spot will be outright chopped.

Garcia's past two minor-league seasons, after an effective 2020 cameo in the bigs, have been horrific; he's posted ERAs of 6.85 and 6.89, with garish 1.88 and 1.44 WHIPs to match. After tinkering with some grips and trying to reshape his pitches, Garcia's control and command both went haywire, making him hard to predict, but easy to square up.

This spring, though, he's looked good. His velocity's higher. He's holding onto a 1.09 WHIP (in an insanely small sample size) and has already been demoted to minor-league camp, as the praise pieces about his ramp-up run from all corners.

So ... do the Yankees really trust Garcia all of a sudden? Or are they just buttering him up to be a piece in a potential trade?

This might be an all-new, reworked Garcia, and a beautiful evocation of the prospect we were once told could be Pedro Martínez light. Of course, it could also just be a small-sample-size mirage. If he's survived this many 40-man purges, maybe the Yankees really are committed to him ... or maybe they just couldn't flip the asset these past two years. His spring numbers are set. An implosion would be the outlier data point (he added some more excellent work in windy Lakeland on Friday). Anyone interested?

1. Isiah Kiner-Falefa

If the Yankees planned to cut Isiah Kiner-Falefa, his $6 million salary wouldn't have been placed on the ledger late last year, and he would've been effortlessly non-tendered.

Obviously, the Yankees like the player. They like his versatility. They like his ability to be a third catcher, which weirdly could come in handy this year. They like the contact profile. Hell, they even like the defense, and they might be the only ones.

But as the winter has droned on, Kiner-Falefa has replaced Gleyber Torres as the most obvious trade candidate on the roster. Despite a recent show of forcing him into second base, third base and center field reps, it still seems quite possible that both parties decide to find IKF a new home before Opening Day, especially if the rumors about the shortstop competition are true.

As we draw closer to the opener, it certainly feels like Oswald Peraza was penciled into the starting role months ago. To add insult to injury for Kiner-Falefa, Anthony Volpe's star turn has been undeniable, and it'll be difficult to keep him in the minors for long. While the Harrison Bader injury could add more reps for Kiner-Falefa in center field, Oswaldo Cabrera and Aaron Judge splitting time out there makes more logical sense, and Cabrera has more outfield experience (albeit just a summer's worth).

The most likely outcome here is IKF being dealt to the Rockies, Dodgers or another infield-needy team, opening up a 40-man spot to help the Yankees add a natural outfielder or another arm.

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