Unexpected candidate might've just emerged in Yankees' messy bullpen battle

If you had to power rank the contenders for the New York Yankees' final bullpen spots entering spring training, Cade Winquest, Angel Chivilli, and Jake Bird made up the top tier in some order. The Yankees made conscious strides to acquire them, giving up real assets to acquire Bird, intentionally trading for Chivilli, and making Winquest their first Rule 5 draft pick since 2011.

Chivilli has already been knocked out of the running. New York has a belief that its pitching apparatus can revamp the 23-year-old's live right arm, but with a 14.85 ERA through seven spring appearances, that revamping will have to come down in Scranton. Winquest hasn't been quite as ghastly, but his 5.68 ERA in six games might bring his time with the organization to an end, with him being offered back to the St. Louis Cardinals.

Bird is still in the mix. The deadline disappointment got a hype boost from Matt Blake coming into the spring, and has delivered an impressive 32.5% strikeout rate and a solid 3.58 ERA, though his 12.9% walk rate is a continuation of past struggles, lending some cause for concern.

Even if Bird makes the team, there will be one more open spot, and it might just go to someone you've never heard of, as Kervin Castro is making a name for himself this spring.

Kervin Castro is going from afterthought to strong contender for a spot in the Yankees' Opening Day bullpen

If you've never heard the name Kervin Castro before, don't fret; he wasn't on anyone's radar coming into spring training. A 27-year-old right-hander, Castro signed out of Venezuela with the San Francisco Giants in 2015 as a catcher. He has undergone two separate Tommy John surgeries, with the first coming in 2017, and made his way to the Yankees in the 2023-2024 offseason after the second elbow procedure.

He's had two somewhat significant big league periods of exposure in his career. The first was in 2021 with the Giants, and he impressed, not allowing a single earned run over 13 1/3 innings. The second didn't go nearly as well, with him combining for a 10.22 ERA between the Giants and the Chicago Cubs.

After missing the entire 2024 season, Castro lit it up in Scranton with a 1.53 ERA over 35 appearances (47 innings). He's continued his stellar performance this spring, throwing 8 1/3 innings over six games with a 0.00 ERA.

“Kervin’s gotten my attention,” Aaron Boone said over the weekend. He still believes there are two spots up for grabs.

Boone has made a couple of complimentary comments about lefty Brent Headrick, who has struck out nearly half of the batters he's faced this spring with a 47.8% K-rate in 5 2/3 innings pitched. His chances were better coming in than Castro's, given he got some big league run and pitched well with a 3.13 ERA over 23 frames last year.

With that, we could be looking at all three top contenders going down in the messy bullpen competition, and the darkest of dark horses winning a job in Castro, who could be a real diamond in the rough.