Recent tantalizing Yankees flop opens up 40-man roster spot by leaping to Japan

Over the course of a long, bleary-eyed season, you'll occasionally catch your eyes darting to someone's gaudy minor league statistics and asking yourself, "Are these real? How can these be real? Is there something wrong with me for being interested in these? Why doesn't anyone seem to care about them?"

Son? They are not real. They are messing with your head. That is the story of Allan Winans, who briefly cameo'd with the 2025 Yankees when they needed sturdiness, if not something spectacular, and instead received next to nothing.

Winans, claimed off waivers from the Atlanta Braves prior to the 2025 season, never flashed plus stuff in the minors. He was never able to make the MLB transition, posting 2.85 and 3.30 ERA marks at Triple-A in 2023 and 2024, but getting roasted alive in short spurts whenever the Braves promoted him. He is without a standout tool. He's a pitcher who "knows how to get by" ... until he doesn't.

But, at Triple-A with the Yankees last season, he started out posting numbers that didn't just pop eyes, but defied reality. Through six starts ... now, seven ... no, nine games, actually, Winans carried an ERA of 0.23 at Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. That does not happen. Could he help the Yankees? Had he turned a corner? Did something change? What was it? Can everyone else change that exact thing, too?

The Yanks had to give him a chance. They had to try. And, in mid-June, he arrived ... posting an 8.68 ERA in three outings. It was a step up from his 15.26 mark with the 2024 Braves.

It always helps to have a shuttle option and starting pitching depth, but after the Yankees tried Winans, it felt safe to say they were satisfied with the result — not in a way where they were happy, but at least they knew what they needed to. Nothing had changed. They hadn't "solved it". They'd done something basically nobody did when they faced Winans last year: struck out.

And now, they've managed to extricate him from their 40-man roster in a mutually beneficial manner: Winans wants to seek an overseas opportunity, and the Yankees will let him.

Yankees release Allan Winans after failed experiment

The Yankees still have more work to do than they're acknowledging when it comes to building a bullpen. At the bottom of the depth chart, Yerry de los Santos, Brent Headrick, and Jake Bird are all varying degrees of mysterious (and all hold minor league options). Will Ryan Yarbrough still have a role to play when the rotation returns to full health? The Yankees need sure things, and they're stuck with flexible possibilities.

At the very least, they've given Winans a chance to chase something more lucrative after learning all they needed to about him last summer.