Yankees reportedly place Harrison Bader on waivers in late August shocker

Why didn't they TRADE HIM, THEN?!

Adam Weinrib

Washington Nationals v New York Yankees / Mike Stobe/GettyImages

Man, Arte Moreno and the Angels really decided to plop all those expensive players on waivers just to duck the luxury tax, only a few weeks after going all in? That's so embarrassing. The Yankees would nev--I'm sorry, what now?

Per Erik Boland's reporting, the Yankees silently placed Harrison Bader on waivers, too, just hours after releasing the still-injured Josh Donaldson.

Claiming teams can line up in reverse order of record to have a shot at adding Bader, and would be responsible for his remaining salary (though, again, it's only a month's worth).

The Yankees -- according to those in the know -- didn't want to sell at the deadline because Hal Steinbrenner didn't want the appearance of surrender/a fire sale. Well, Mr. Steinbrenner ... what exactly does this look like?

Hearing from multiple sources the Yankees have put CF Harrison Bader on waivers. Will be interesting to see if a contending team in need of outfield help will put in a claim.
— Erik Boland (@eboland11) August 29, 2023

Yankees reportedly place Harrison Bader on waivers; Jasson Dominguez call-up coming next?

Bader's annual salary was just ~$5.2 million this season. Divide that by six, and the Yankees could save ~$866,000 in addition to the $228,000 they'd shave off if Josh Donaldson signed elsewhere over the course of the next two days.

It would be unlikely for both of those things to happen, but technically even that wouldn't be enough to get the Yankees below the top luxury tax tier; they currently sit $1.1 million above that number.

Why on earth wouldn't they have the patience to keep Bader down the stretch, in that case? Unless they really wanted to go wild and install The Martian, Jasson Dominguez, in center field for a stunningly interesting (and pressure-packed) month? New York just knocked both Donaldson and Greg Allen off their 40-man roster.

Bader has struggled mightily against right-handers this season, batting just .206 against them in 233 plate appearances. Jordan Montgomery, on the other hand, has a 2.30 ERA in five starts with the Texas Rangers after the trade deadline blockbuster that sent him out of St. Louis.

A trade deadline, you say? A deadline of sorts where teams can obtain players in exchange for other players, rather than lose them for nothing? What a novel concept.

Bader is still in Tuesday night's Yankees lineup. We'll see how long he lasts -- and it seems safe to assume he won't be re-signing next year, either.

Adam Weinrib

Adam Weinrib is a Content Director on the FanSided network, and has been the co-editor at Yanks Go Yard for 6 years. He also co-hosts The Baseball Insiders Podcast thrice weekly, alongside FanSided MLB insider Robert Murray, as well as the Yanks Go Yard Podcast. Previously, he was a Senior Editor at 12up.com, and has been covering MLB and NFL for 10 years. He was also a headline and features contributor at ClickHole and Onion Sports, as well as the Associate Producer of the ESPN 30 for 30 film "Believeland". An avowed fan of the New York sports teams -- specifically the Yankees -- as well as the North Carolina Tar Heels, you can find Adam complaining mid-game on Twitter, as well as on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn if the game goes really poorly.