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Yankees add bullpen help after Elmer Rodriguez demotion (but pick the boring option)

Come on, Yankees! You used to be cool!
Adam Weinrib
Adam Weinrib

Yanks Go Yard

Feb 12, 2026; Tampa, FL, USA; New York Yankees pitcher Yerry de Los Santos (73) works out during spring training workouts at George M. Steinbrenner Field. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images / Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images

Carlos Rodón will presumably be joining the Yankees to make his next start in Milwaukee, but they'll be carrying an additional bullpen arm for the next four games in place of a No. 5 starter. Pending an additional shuffle/someone being overused (it's happened before!), the Yankees will be adding Yerry de los Santos to the Paul Blackburn/Ryan Yarbrough pile instead of showing us a preview of everyone's favorite flamethrower, Yovanny Cruz.

The Yankees' recent stretch of decisions have reflected the type of newfound urgency fans have been begging for. Anthony Volpe's down and stuck in purgatory. Rodríguez was swapped in for Luis Gil, and though he struggled with the Rangers twice, the Yankees came out victorious on Tuesday in his second outing. Brand new White Sox icon Randal Grichuk was let loose in favor of a longer runway for Jasson Domínguez. This team might get it.

But, on Wednesday, hamstrung by their multiple uncuttable bullpen longmen, they unfortunately took the dull way out in replacing ERC for the week.

Will Yankees throw us an urgency-fueled curveball after Yerry de los Santos move?

The New York Yankees have won 15 of 17 games, buoyed by a pedal-to-the-metal style that's been absent in recent years and has them approaching rarefied air in franchise history. Yankees teams with similar stretches are overwhelmingly likely to win the World Series. To that I say ... let's go?

It's fair to be disappointed by the de los Santos move when viewed through this lens, but the Yankees' recent push towards making every game important means they could sacrifice de los Santos once again in favor of Cruz if he's used extensively on Wednesday or Thursday. There's rain in the forecast almost in perpetuity in the Bronx, and with the Rangers only in town once, MLB's going to do everything possible to get these games in. That means a potential doubleheader on Thursday and a potentially overburdened group of middle relievers, especially after so many different arms helped get Tuesday's series opener to the finish line.

Yerry was solid in moderation in 2025, and allowed an earned run against the Angels in a blowout loss in his only MLB appearance of 2026 three weeks back. In Triple-A, he's rocking a 4.30 ERA in 14 2/3 frames. He's no Cruz (with a Carlos Lagrange photo in a poorly-constructed recent YES Network graphic), but he'll have to do ... through Wednesday, at least.

Adam Weinrib

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.