Yankees release familiarly named player you didn't even remember they'd signed

When you think of the phrase "Luis Gonzalez Yankees," a million emotions rush to front of mind before you ever arrive at the subject of this article. But sit down. Stay a while. Repair the hole you just created in your drywall. Because there's a new development here.

On Monday evening, the Yankees released lefty-swinging outfielder Luis González. At the time of his arrival in December, we here at Yanks Go Yard called it a "bad vibes move that elicited a 2001 World Series nightmare." As it turns out, very little was elicited by this González Part II's arrival. In fact, he was mostly forgotten as soon as he arrived.

In totality, this González silently played 22 games with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, hitting .282 with a .771 OPS. That's good, but not great, and far from enough to crack a stacked outfield in the Bronx that hopes to also welcome Jasson Dominguez back sooner rather than later.

González's efforts weren't enough to unseat Trent Grisham, let alone Alex Verdugo, and that resulted in his release this week.

Yankees release ex-San Francisco Giants outfielder Luis Gonzalez

Honestly? It was pretty refreshing to see someone named Luis Gonzalez simply ... not impact the Yankees at all. Go on your merry way. Au revoir, fella.

The 28-year-old hit .254 for the 2022 San Francisco Giants, but hasn't played in the big league since that season, recuperating from back surgery. His semi-successful showing in Scranton might've been enough to spark interest from the rest of MLB, and should at least earn him a minor-league opportunity in someone else's Triple-A outfield.

From the Yankees' perspective, though, this transaction wasn't even as emotionally taxing as, say, releasing Kole Calhoun last season. González might be a sturdy depth piece, but with so many decisions circling Brian Cashman's noggin currently, there was no reason for this one to occupy any brain waves.

Boom. There you go. Now, forget about him again before you start thinking about bloops, bunting and bad losses from two decades ago.