Yankees' internal relief options in minors have been more ghastly than you realize

One of the hopes the New York Yankees had for the 2026 season hung on the projection that if the bullpen faltered, they had enough depth in the minor leagues to bring up intriguing arms that could end up being solutions. Looking ahead to the 2026 season, we identified Harrison Cohen and Eric Reyzelman as a couple of underrated prospects who could fit that bill.

Both of those right-handers ranked towards the back end of the Yankees' top 30 prospects, but that seemed to be partially due to the fact that relief-only prospects aren't valued as much as their counterparts with starter potential. New York didn't want to leave the depth completely untested, however, and also signed veteran reliever Rafael Montero, though the 35-year-old got off to a late start thanks to visa issues that prevented him from entering the country.

Aaron Boone will tell you that Camilo Doval is throwing the ball well, but anyone with eyeballs knows that's a lie. In addition, Jake Bird makes things way too interesting and has been far too ineffective to be relied upon. The rest of the bullpen has been pretty good, but the risk of burnout looms.

It would be nice to be able to inject some fresh blood into the proceedings, and with New York foolishly burning their best option, Yovanny Cruz, for the foreseeable future and Carlos Lagrange going down for a good long while with a shoulder injury, this trio of minor-league depth pieces couldn't be more important.

There's just one problem. They've all been bad. Very bad.

Struggling trio of Harrison Cohen, Eric Reyzelman, and Rafael Montero leaves Yankees with nothing to fall back on

Montero, who rebounded and posted a 2.86 ERA over 22 innings down the stretch for the Detroit Tigers, hasn't taken well to Scranton. Over 18 2/3 innings, he's posted a 5.30 ERA with an 11.6% walk rate.

Cohen, who had some buzz during spring training and played for Israel in the World Baseball Classic, posted a combined 1.76 ERA in 2025 while splitting his time almost evenly between Somerset and Scranton. He did that while walking batters at a 14.4% clip, which, in hindsight, was a warning sign.

This year, Cohen is walking batters even more frequently, coming in at 19.3%, again, split between Double-A and Triple-A. Overall, he's been much less effective and is currently sitting with a 5.81 ERA.

Finally, Reyzelman wowed fans earlier in the year by going on a strikeout-fueled rampage at Somerset, K'ing 48.5% of batters he faced over 17 1/3 innings at the level and hitting 100 miles per hour on the radar gun for the first time in his career. However, in the 7 2/3 frames he's logged since being promoted to Scranton, things have been very different.

At Triple-A, he's now walking as many batters as he strikes out, struggling mightily to the tune of a 6.84 ERA. It's the same story from last year when his walks skyrocketed and nearly equaled his strikeouts, producing an ineffective 4.29 ERA. If Reyzelman can't figure out Triple-A, how will he ever be able to contribute at the MLB level?

All of this paints a bleak picture and proves that if the Yankees truly want a change and to add to the MLB relief corps, they're going to have to look outside the organization to do so. Unfortunately, the trade market for relief help is shaping up to be both shallow and expensive before the August 3 deadline.

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