3 Yankees who don't deserve a 40-man roster spot heading into 2024

Nick Ramirez

Axing two lefties from the Yankees' potential bullpen picture might sound crazy, but you don't mean to tell us Krook or Nick Ramirez are going to fill in for Wandy Peralta, do you? You don't think they're going to give Caleb Ferguson a run for his money, do you?

And again, this is nothing against Ramirez. He was actually solid in 2023! The veteran appeared in 32 games and logged a 2.66 ERA, 2.94 FIP and 1.23 WHIP across 40.2 innings. He surrendered just one home run and walked only nine batters.

So then what's the problem?

He doesn't strike anybody out (28 Ks). Most of his appearances came in low-leverage situations, and when he was given high-leverage opportunities, he got shelled to the tune of a .360/.346/.560 line, allowing nine runs in 10 appearances. Heading into his age-34 season, there just doesn't seem to be a whole lot of runway for him to make significant progress, especially since 2019 was his only other season appearing in more than 13 games.

The Yankees used far too many roster spots on guys who didn't have a defined role or simply weren't good enough. You can determine what the case was for these three, but it'd be in the team's best interest to make sure there are as few question marks as possible.