7 Yankees facing uncertain futures heading into 2023 season

Wandy Peralta

It's kind of surprising the Yankees haven't signed Wandy Peralta to a contract extension yet. After he was downright stolen from the San Francisco Giants in the 2021 Mike Tauchman trade (sorry for our pushback, Mr. Cashman), he's become one of the most valuable arms in the team's bullpen.

Peralta is entering his final year of arbitration eligibility and will be a free agent after 2023. The Yankees just had a bullpen exodus of very replaceable arms (Aroldis Chapman, Zack Britton and Chad Green), but Peralta, one of the few left-handers, is far more valuable and necessary for the future success of this unit.

He's the reason the Yankees didn't have to make overarching bullpen changes this offseason. Alongside Clay Holmes, Michael King, Lou Trivino and Jonathan Loaisiga, Peralta helps form one of the best back-end relief corps in MLB. The Yankees have high hopes for Ron Marinaccio, Scott Effross and Greg Weissert, nobody in that group is a proven commodity just yet.

The only way this might end poorly for the Yankees is if Peralta logs an All-Star campaign and opts to hit free agency to cash out for the first (and only) lucrative long-term contract of his career. Or, you know, they could just screw it up without that being a factor.