Yankees announce new spring training invite, but not at position fans were hoping for

The New York Yankees might have a more flexible roster than last season, but their offensive depth is severely lacking. Pitching depth? They seem to have that in spades. They even employ the most overqualified No. 6 starter in the game (for another couple of days)!

For most of the offseason, the Yankees subsisted without a viable left-hander in their extremely deep bullpen, but they solved that calamity by signing Tim Hill to a cheap deal with a 2026 option before camp broke. They also imported Jayvien Sandridge at the horn, a name you probably don't know, but a lefty reliever with command issues who can touch the upper 90s with his sinker nonetheless. It's hard not to see a little Clay Holmes in him, at the moment.

Now, in addition to a lefty you don't know, the Yankees have added a lefty you can't pronounce.

Left-handed reliever Rob Zastryzyny has joined the Yankees as a non-roster invite to Major League spring training. He won't count against the 40-man roster unless he makes the Opening Day 26-man group at the end of camp. And while additional lefty relief depth is never a bad thing to have behind Hill, Giancarlo Stanton's injury and the uncertainty surrounding his timeline had us hoping for a mysterious offensive player to walk through those doors on Monday afternoon.

For now, JD Martinez, Jose Iglesias, Brendan Rodgers and Justin Turner will have to wait.

Yankeez invite lefty Rob Zastryzny to 2025 Major League spring training

"Don't write Rob Zastryzny's last name for the remainder of this article" challenge: Impossible.

Once a second-round pick of the Chicago Cubs back in 2016, Zastryzny earned a ring with the 2016 team after a sparkling cameo (1.13 ERA in 16 innings pitched). Since then, he's bounced to several different organizations, with a four-year gap between MLB appearances from 2018 in Chicago to 2022 with the Mets. His brief cameo with the big club in Milwaukee last year was nearly as impressive as his Cubbies debut; in 7 2/3 innings, he posted a 1.19 ERA and struck out five.

There's certainly a chance that (rolls eyes) Mr. Z eventually rises up from Scranton to impact the Yankees' MLB roster, but we'd rather see them give an opportunity to a thumper at this point. The two aren't mutually exclusive, of course, but they'd better get a move on that second thing.