Yankees finally listen to fans, make obvious roster move after blowout loss to Dodgers

The New York Yankees have some complex work to do before the trade deadline. They must decide whether they trust Gleyber Torres' defense in big moments, and whether he hits enough to justify the uncertainty. They must navigate Anthony Rizzo's deemphasis, pending an unexpected turnaround. And they must fortify their pitching staff, because every team needs to do that.

The solutions to these myriad issues won't come easy. That's why it would behoove the Yankees to take care of the obvious stuff as soon as possible, given the degree of difficulty of what's to come.

On Sunday afternoon, they finally did just that. Veteran Dennis Santana snuck onto the Yankees' roster after spring training as a Matt Blake project, slotting into the 'pen after Luis Gil was promoted to the rotation (good move). Unfortunately, Blake's tutelage didn't stick. Santana's breaking ball remained predictable, and his fastball stayed too flat to change anyone's pace. He hung on over two months as the last man in the bullpen, occasionally striking fear into his own fans' hearts when called upon as a last resort in tight jams.

He caused far too many heart palpitations pitching garbage time in the Twins series this past week, turning a 9-2 game into a 9-5 semi-squeaker while trying to soak up innings. He caused the premature turning off of television sets when he was spotted warming in a scoreless game in the 10th on Friday; the fear of using Santana might've caused Aaron Boone to rely on a tired out Ian Hamilton a little longer, losing him the series opener against LA.

A few days (weeks?) too late, Santana was DFA'd before the finale, and Ron Marinaccio was recalled to take his place.

Yankees DFA reliever Dennis Santana, promote Ron Marinaccio

We know how the DFA game works. The Yankees are precious with their out-of-options relievers, giving them 10 additional chances to prove they surely can't hack it before finally accepting that they might have to lose a player altogether rather than merely demoting him. The Yankees love to yo-yo Marinaccio, who was reportedly upset when he was sent down earlier in the season. In this particular instance, New York's front office plays emotionless front office chess, though they must understand by now that they can't expect their players to operate with similar stone faces.

Now, Marinaccio will get another chance to prove his presence is more valuable than roster flexibility. He's already proven to be more effective than Santana, who wasted his final Yankees bullets throwing 39 doomed pitches against the Dodgers Saturday night, raising his ERA to 6.26 in the process.