Yankees make contract option decisions as fans breathe giant sigh of relief

Much like the last five Yankees offseasons, a lot of personnel was expected to shift around due to the nature of the payroll structure. Because of the organization's top-heavy contracts, there are many departing supporting cast members each year.

For 2025, we've already seen nine players hit free agency. New York added a 10th on Wednesday too when they made their contract option decision on Jonathan Loaisiga.

The oft-injured reliever had his $5 million option for the 2026 season rejected after the Yankees paid him yet again for an abbreviated and unproductive campaign. Fans were genuinely shocked when he was signed last offseason after he had logged just 20 total games across 2023 and 2024. The front office, for whatever reason, was still tantalized by his outlier 2021 campaign.

Loaisiga is expected to be ready for spring training after ailments limited him to just 30 appearances in 2025, but it's finally time the Yankees quit him. He doesn't fit their equation and they don't need to learn that for the fifth time.

Yankees parting with Jonathan Loaisiga and retaining Tim Hill for 2026

That was no-brainer decision No. 1. The second came when they exercised Tim Hill's $3 million option for 2026 — a move fans greatly support after his efforts the last two seasons.

The side-winding lefty isn't the best option out of the bullpen, but he's a workhorse who provides opposing lineups with a far different look. The Yankees' relief corps has seemingly been redundant in recent years, which resulted in the unit collapsing like a house of cards in 2025, but Hill is a breath of fresh air as he induces a ton of ground balls (and weak contact) and gets hitters to chase.

He appeared in a ridiculous 70 games this past season, totaling 67 innings. He finished with a 3.09 ERA, 4.30 FIP and 1.10 WHIP. He was admittedly shaky in some high-leverage moments, but there can't be an upper-echelon standard for everybody. Hill is a soon-to-be 36-year-old making $3 million. If he can provide 55-70 innings of 3.00 ERA baseball, that's vastly exceeding expectations.

There's plenty more work to be done with the bullpen, but this is an excellent start. Brian Cashman must continue to cut the dead weight and build from the ground up. Jettisoning Loaisiga frees the Yankees of another sunk cost, while bringing back Hill is the first step in maintaining a semblance of stability after a lack thereof was their undoing during a wobbly 2025.