9 Yankees players who will not be back in 2024

Kyle Higashioka

Higashioka, who once struggled to break through as the Yankees' third catcher and went 0-for-18 in his 2017 debut stretch before being demoted again, having to wait until his second MLB season for his first big league hit, socked 10 home runs in each of the past three years. He became the preferred starter of plenty as Gary Sánchez struggled in the 2020 playoffs. That's a pretty exceptional Yankees career, and one that lasted far longer than it seemed it would.

But, with Austin Wells ready for primetime, Jose Trevino returning, and Ben Rortvedt sparking a relationship with Gerrit Cole, the time has come for Higashioka to be non-tendered, allowing the Yankees to spend his estimated $2 million elsewhere next season.

Higashioka isn't beloved by defensive metrics as much as he is by his teammates, and losing Judge's even-lower-key companion will be a tough blow and a rude reintroduction to the business of baseball. But retaining an aging backup doesn't make sense for this Yankees team that, if anything, could still stand to improve the talent behind the plate, even with three names already entrenched. This will be a tough goodbye, but the moment has already passed. Higashioka did not play between Sept. 19 and Sept. 29.

Wandy Peralta

Another name, another Yankees farewell that didn't go as planned. Peralta landed on the IL with a triceps injury in mid-September, meaning his final game in pinstripes came and went without fans having any ability to acknowledge him.

Peralta became a fantastically weird Yankee after arriving in the Mike Tauchman trade in early 2021. The rubber-armed lefty with a bag of a million tricks pitched in all five games of the 2022 ALDS, and did so effectively. He allowed two runs in Game 3 while trying to complete a multi-inning appearance (they were inherited runners that scored under Clarke Schmidt's watch). No matter; he rebounded and closed both Games 4 and 5. If not for his base runners, the series could've ended in four games, sure, but it's not shocking that, in moments of great triumph, Peralta still found a way to mess with timing.

The 32-year-old fended off the regression monster in this season's second half, and his 2.83 ERA never rose to match his 5.05 (!) FIP. Peralta's control was off in 2023, but it never came back to bite him, and if his triceps issue doesn't turn out to be serious, he'll have played his way out of the Yankees' price range entering free agency. It's certainly possible that said regression hits all at once in 2024, and hopefully someone pays him on performance and not theoretical results. He deserves a multi-year pact. It won't be with the Yankees.

Luke Weaver

Weaver's late 2023 cameo with the Yankees has been fairly impressive. He's done the most important thing a starter can do: sitting next to Gerrit Cole in the dugout. He's jittery on the mound, but he's done a good job escaping jams and minimizing damage. He dominated the Diamondbacks midway through their Wild Card race! That game really mattered to his former team, and he took it from them.

And now, he'll be hitting free agency again after the season.

The Yankees nabbed Weaver because they were shallow in the arms department, and they're no doubt glad he came through with a 3.38 ERA in 13.1 innings across three starts. The narrative, after they signed him, was akin to, "Hey, you never know! Maybe they see something or fix something!" With all due respect, that is impossible to do in just a few weeks. His 6.40 ERA on the season still screams louder than anything.

Maybe the Yankees saw enough in Weaver to find a way to settle on a minor-league pact. But they can't give him a rotation spot on a supposed contender. Ditto a swingman role in next year's bullpen. Yankees roster spots, especially at the start of the season, are too valuable for experimentation.

Domingo Germán

Germán was a non-tender candidate this offseason, regardless of the way his 2023 campaign ended. But -- and it might be tough to remember now -- there was a moment in July when it seemed like he could be a trade deadline mover.

If the Yankees sold, it wouldn't be too tough to convince a contender to take on the boom-or-bust Germán, who could bomb against the Mariners and allow 10 runs, then shake it off less than a week later and toss a road perfect game. His electric outings weren't accidental. Consistency wasn't his friend, but he always had seven shutout innings -- no matter the opponent -- in his pocket.

Then his saga took another dark turn, after the Yankees had already given him a second chance following his 2019 suspension under the domestic violence policy that left the team an arm short during a doomed postseason run. Some (pointing finger squarely at myself) thought he should never have been brought back in the first place. If the Yankees hadn't extended the olive branch, they never would've had to reckon with the armpit injury that may or may not have been real, or the horrific and terrifying drunken clubhouse escapades that finally knocked Germán onto the restricted list. The league mandated rehab, and we have not heard from him since.

Add the long-forgotten Jimmy Cordero into this bucket, too. The Yankees -- and potentially MLB -- will never employ either player again.

Isiah Kiner-Falefa

After becoming a pariah after being labeled a starting shortstop in 2022, the worst casting decision since Hayden Christensen played Anakin, Isiah Kiner-Falefa did anything asked of him and more in 2023.

He played short only once (he went 2-for-5) after every doomer Yankee fan sobbed all offseason about how the Volpe thing was a charade and it was just going to be IKF in "run it back" mode every day forever. He played third, his Gold Glove position, in 29 games. He spent 34 games in center field (???) and 32 in left (he hit .279 with an .832 OPS there), and comported himself well enough. Still, it never should've happened, and trying their underqualified utility man in the outfield for 60+ games might go down as the 2023 Yankees' kookiest failure.

IKF earned the approval of the fan base back and then some this year after becoming a victim of the Yankees' insanity, and delivered more often than expected. Still ... 0.2 bWAR and a 78 OPS+ for $6 million isn't going to cut it moving forward.

Kiner-Falefa loved being a Yankee, and celebrated when he wasn't dealt at the trade deadline. Ultimately, we loved having him. But this is the end of a road we're glad has been repaved with gold rather than additional potholes.

Luis Severino

Luis Severino deserved a storybook ending. Technically, he made it to the end of his ill-fated extension, which Aaron Hicks did not. Unfortunately, that didn't make the final weeks any sweeter; he screamed off the mound as a gut muscle betrayed him against Milwaukee, meaning he didn't get to choose a convenient moment of tribute on the way out of New York, either. Not everyone can be beloved long-time Boston Red Sox Justin Turner, I guess (astoundingly unfair he got a moment in the sun and Sevy didn't).

At least -- at the very least -- Severino, who spent the summer as the self-described "worst pitcher in baseball," found the spark a few more times before saying goodbye.

He one-hit the Nationals over 6.2 innings on Aug. 23 in pinstripes, ending the Yankees' nine-game losing streak in style. He got to hear it from the faithful one last time. He struck out eight in seven shutout innings against Detroit on the road in his next outing. He does still have magic in that right arm. He just couldn't harness it until the decision had already been made.

Severino ends his option year in 2023 with a 1.646 WHIP, having subtracted 1.5 bWAR from this talent-starved team. He was a great Yankee in 2017 and for half of 2018. He will always be remembered, along with his '17 brothers, as a success. For a brief moment. He will not be back.