Yankees' latest move finally removes player who had long clogged up roster spot

On February 5 of 2025, the New York Yankees claimed a former Atlanta Braves top prospect off waivers in what was viewed as an intriguing transaction at the time. But fans quickly grew tired of it when it paid no dividends.

Braden Shewmake ate up a 40-man roster spot for an entire calendar year and was incredibly unimpressive at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. He hit just .244 with a .680 OPS over 85 games and was never called up to the big league roster.

Many had been wondering how he survived the trade deadline ... then the end-of-season roster crunch ... then essentially the entire offseason ... until Thursday. On February 5 of 2026, Shewmake was designated for assignment after the Yankees claimed another former top prospect, Osvaldo Bido, off waivers from the LA Angels.

With their surplus of infielders and lack of relief depth, it was only a matter of time before this happened. Many are just wondering what took so long.

Yankees finally DFA Braden Shewmake after a full year on the 40-man roster

As for Bido, he brings a lot more intrigue than Shewmake did. The right-hander enjoyed a surprisingly impressive 2024 campaign (though just 16 games) with the Athletics. The former top prospect had that sandwiched in between two awful stints, with his 2025 regression being the most concerning.

His 2023 MLB debut with the Pirates was understandably unimpressive. He was with a bad team trying to find his footing. But to go from a 3.41 ERA, 3.36 FIP and 1.09 WHIP in 2024 to a 5.87 ERA, 6.07 FIP and 1.61 WHIP in 2025 is ... astonishingly bad. He gave up FIFTY more hits in only 16 1/3 more innings year over year. What?!

That said, his Baseball Savant page from 2024 is one of the most stunning things you may ever see. He ranked among the top 1% in exit velocity, expected slugging percentage, xwOBAcon, and hard-hit percentage. He also ranked in the top 2% for expected batting average and the top 6% for expected ERA and xwOBA. So ... something is there. We just don't know what it is.

What we do know is that he relies on a heavy fastball-slider combo, which is the Matt Blake specialty. Fans shouldn't expect Bido to change the bullpen picture in any way, but they also shouldn't be surprised if he emerges a couple months down the road to log some meaningful innings.