5 Yankees players who don't deserve to be on 2023 40-man roster

Jimmy Cordero, RHP

We're entering our second year of waiting for this lottery ticket to pay off. For an impatient franchise, they sure are willing to stick by ex-White Sox castoff Jimmy Cordero.

Cordero, 31 years old, has a Clay Holmes-esque repetoire, and the Yankees seem more than willing to wait for the opportunity to unlock the injured right-hander with the high-velocity sinker, which he throws 59% of the time.

Unfortunately, he's thrown it 0% of the time at the MLB level since 2020, considering he hasn't thrown a big-league pitch since the ill-fated shortened season. He wrapped that year with a 6.08 ERA in 26.2 innings, following up his solid 2019 season (37.1 innings, 11 walks, 31 Ks, 2.89 ERA) with a stinker.

The Yankees have been far more patient with Cordero than they were with the last "Exciting Matt Blake" project Junior Fernández, who had a similar profile and flamed out with the Pirates and Cardinals. We thought Fernández was The Guy. Unfortunately, he was on the chopping block during New York's December free agency flurry, and is already back out in the world.

Cordero's still here, though he has to be the low man on the totem pole at this point. Let's see if he sticks around when the team adds a left fielder. That's coming someday, right?

Right??