Yankees end beyond foolish Cade Winquest experiment with late-night roster move

You couldn't script a more wasteful use of a roster spot if you tried. For all those who believe Brian Cashman has lost a step, the tale of Cade Winquest is officially pretty good fodder, and it came to an end in pinstripes on Thursday night past 10:00 PM EST (for some reason).

The Yankees haven't used a Rule 5 Draft pick in decades, but they used one on Winquest, which all but guaranteed him an Opening Day roster spot. After all, if they chopped him, they had to offer him back to the St. Louis Cardinals - and they had no designs on doing so. He was once a Yankees draft target in the Cam Schlittler class of 2022. They selected the Northeastern product, but still saw promise in Winquest and used this year's Rule 5 to rectify that long-ago wrong.

The Yankees had big plans for his right arm, plans they'd tried to put in place 3.5 years prior. Would he be a middle-innings option? What about a Luke Weaver-type who could cover multiple frames, a la Michael King in 2022? How would Yankees get his hefty fastball to play up in their lab?

Of course ... when Winquest actually got to spring training ... it was clear his stuff was a few ticks down from what was advertised. He posted a 7.20 ERA in nine games (10 innings), but worst of all he was unfathomably hittable, giving up three homers among 13 hits. He nibbled. He scuffled with command. He wasn't the star they envisioned. But, lo and behold, with the way the Yankees' schedule stretched out, they had a chance to carry him as an additional reliever on their Opening Day roster while keeping Luis Gil, their fifth starter, in the minors. They could operate the bullpen as normal, but could also deploy Winquest to give their regular arms a breather.

How Yankees' Cade Winquest plan led to bullpen overuse disaster

Except ... well ... they didn't get into many blowouts. Their four losses are all by one run. They didn't even feel comfortable using long men Paul Blackburn and Ryan Yarbrough all that much, let alone Winquest. With a golden opportunity to rest their bigger arms, they instead pressed the gas pedal on David Bednar, Fernando Cruz, and even Brent Headrick. Nobody rested. They were actually used more than ever. Winquest warmed up once.

He never got into a game. And, on Thursday (presumably while his teammates were on a plane to Tampa), he got shucked off the roster to make room for Gil, Friday's starter (per Jon Heyman). Baseball's a silly game. And it's even sillier when a major league team afforded a golden opportunity to expand their group and give everyone a breather instead spends all 12 games skittishly ignoring the unusable elephant in the room.

Whatever the Yankees' Winquest plan was, he didn't take to it. And they took him north for no reason anyway. And now it's over.