Projecting Yankees' bullpen after Brian Cashman's 2024 trade deadline, injury returns

Maybe Brian Cashman made the "big move" too early, which made trade deadline day feel like a letdown. Maybe he didn't do enough for what still should be considered an ailing New York Yankees roster. Maybe it'll all be OK. Chances are, we'll just have to suffer through two more months of baseball to find out.

The most work was done on the bullpen, which saw a few players go. Caleb Ferguson was traded to the Houston Astros. Yoendrys Gomez was optioned back to Triple-A. Will Warren was here for a game (then sent back down to Triple-A).

The most significant trade on deadline day for the Yankees was the acquisition of Mark Leiter Jr. from the Chicago Cubs. He's been a late-inning savior for them in 2024 and sports a nearly unhittable split-finger that will be a welcomed addition to what feels like a redundant bullpen.

And then there was the addition of Padres reliever Enyel De Los Santos, who is among the worst in the league at getting barreled up by opposing hitters. Ok, then.

Either way, the Yankees made a number of changes on Tuesday and are expecting more in the coming weeks. That means we can project what the unit might look like in the short-term and then by the end of the month.

Projecting Yankees' bullpen after Brian Cashman's 2024 trade deadline, injury returns

De Los Santos hasn't been activated yet, but once he is, we can expect Marinaccio to get optioned back to Scranton. De Los Santos doesn't have any options left, so he'll need to be designated for assignment if the Yankees want him off the active roster.

That time could come, too, because the Yankees' bullpen will be getting back a number of players this month. Clarke Schmidt is also slated to re-join the rotation, which is going to push one of the team's starters to the 'pen. What'll that look like?

We can't omit Effross because there's been chatter of his return for quite some time now, but based on his performance at Triple-A, the Yankees might just let him finish out 2024 in the minors so he can get back on track after missing a ton of time with multiple injuries. Hence, the asterisk. Plus, it makes more sense to employ either Cortes or Luis Gil in the bullpen once Schmidt is back, because they're both up to speed and pitching decently.

Also, Lou Trivino, JT Brubaker and Cody Poteet are making their way back from injuries. It's unclear when they might return (if at all), but one of the three could be thrust into the picture. Don't forget, this team is far from out of the woods with injuries — there are two more months of regular-season baseball. You know how it goes.

The "best" version of the Yankees' bullpen still leaves a lot of be desired. That's what we learned from this exercise. So fans better hope a few of the injury returns possess a semblance of impact, or else it's going to remain a rollercoaster ride anytime Aaron Boone turns it over to his relievers.