5 players who were on the Yankees this year that you probably forgot about

Zach McAllister, RHP

Long before he was a Cleveland starter and well-traveled veteran, McAllister was a Yankees draft pick, selected way back in 2006 out of high school.

He worked his way through the system as a starter, but ultimately never debuted in pinstripes, finding himself shipped to Cleveland in exchange for Austin Kearns at the 2010 deadline. He was nearly flipped in a package for Cliff Lee after winning the Yankees' Minor League Pitcher of the Year honors in 2009, but that deal was scuttled through no fault of his own, as Brian Cashman refused to swap Eduardo Nuñez into the trade for an injured David Adams. Overall, cool.

McAllister made the bigs quickly for Cleveland, joining their rotation through 2014. At that point, he transitioned to the bullpen, and persisted there until they finally cut him loose midway through the 2018 season.

The right-hander then entered the "production desert" portion of his career, never making another MLB appearance again ... until the Yankees came calling in 2023, gave him his road grays, and asked him to preserve the middle innings in the second game of that secretly awesome Fenway doubleheader. He wriggled out of trouble and held down the fort as a forgotten quartet of Yankees closed the coffin on the Red Sox season.

Unfortunately, the magic ended there. McAllister became the team's innings-soaking punching bag as their whimpering season concluded, and he wrapped the campaign with a 10.13 ERA in 5.1 innings. But he got back to where he belonged, where he told himself he could still fit at the age of 35. That's the only part of the story that really matters.

Ryan Weber, RHP

Wait, that was *this* season? You're damn right it was!

Weber, aka The WebDog, appeared on both the 2022 and 2023 Yankees, though we'd forgive you if the only portion of his career you committed to memory was his oddly dominant stretch as last year's long man.

The '22 Yankees really seemed destined for greatness when Weber and his mid-80s fastball was nipping corners to the tune of an 0.84 ERA in five outings/10.2 innings. When he was a Red Sox righty, his success used to baffle us. Needless to say, it felt better watching the weirdness go down in pinstripes.

Would you believe ... he threw even more innings for the 2023 Yanks? It's true! Weber posted a 3.14 ERA in 14.1 innings, and even recorded an extra-inning save in Cincinnati, the final game in which Anthony Rizzo homered for a very long time (a 45-game drought over two months while his vision was blurred, of course). Weber struck out 10 men and walked just two in two seasons with the Bombers. He probably would've survived a while longer in the 'pen, too, but came down with a dreaded forearm issue before the worm could turn. He was placed on the 60-Day IL and spent the summer trying to avoid Tommy John surgery. Rarely does that ever work.

Greg Allen, OF

Another player who belongs in the, "Wait, He Was Here THIS Year?" Club. Allen's 2021 stint was iconic, but his tenure in pinstripes in 2023 was interrupted, lending it an air of mystery. It all blends together after a while. All the ringless seasons become one.

Allen's final game in pinstripes this season was Aug. 20 against the Red Sox, one of the most predictably hair-tearing games of the season. Anthony Volpe tied it up late with a three-run homer, as New York tried to salvage a series finale at home. Isiah Kiner-Falefa appeared to score the winning run, but the umpiring crew overturned it with next to no basis; there was no clear evidence in either direction, especially not for a reversal. Clay Holmes broke the tie in the top of the ninth, but wriggled out of a jam with only one run's worth of damage. Allen started the bottom of the inning with a ringing double off the top of the wall, but -- naturally -- was stranded on second.

After that disastrous game, he was given his walking papers.

Allen will forever be the acquisition target who finally pushed the Yankees over the edge toward shedding Aaron Hicks from the roster, but he appeared in just 10 games before injuring himself in Los Angeles with a nasty-looking hip flexor issue. He received nine more at-bats later in the summer after being activated before he was sent back into the pool. An all-time odd Yankee tenure ended stranded on second -- unless New York's braintrust brings him back in 2024. Crazier things have happened.

Colten Brewer, RHP

Honestly, show of hands. I'm willing to bet Brewer is the only one of these names that you actually forgot.

It's true, though. His Yankees career happened, even though he now resides in Japan, signing with the Hanshin Tigers midseason.

At the time of his acquisition, Brewer was coming off a hot spring training with the Rays, and seemed ripe for the plucking as the Yankees bullpen hit some early injury woes. Essentially, he was the Franchy Cordero of the 'pen. One day, the roster seemed set. The next day, Brewer and his hot March were being touted as a must-have commodity.

Though he danced through trouble in his first few outings, he did nail the most important part by getting out of repetitive messes. He threw two scoreless frames against the San Francisco Giants. He held it down for three frames against Cleveland in a game the Yankees nearly came back and won, allowing just one hit in the process. It was really happening. The Yankees had found another one.

Until ... they didn't. His FIP caught up with him while trying to caddy for Jhony Brito in the right-hander's stunningly awful start against the Twins. Brito was bludgeoned for seven runs in less than an inning on April 13, at which point Brewer entered and allowed two more to score. In all, he allowed five hits and four runs that day as he put on a brave face in what he surely gathered was an ill-fated outing.

He was DFA'd right after. Luckily, Hanshin is nice in the summer.