Yankees promote trade acquisition who has little room for error amid bullpen chaos

The Yankees optioned both Jake Bird and Yerry De Los Santos the last two days and will welcome another new reliever into the fold on Wednesday as they look to take the upper hand in their series with the LA Angels.

De Los Santos got the boot on Tuesday night and it was announced Wednesday afternoon Angel Chivilli would be making his way to the Bronx. The offseason trade acquisition will get his first opportunity at the MLB level after getting shelled in spring training and failing to earn a roster spot.

As much as we'd love to be excited about Chivilli, it's not really an option given how much peril the bullpen is in. Contrary to Aaron Boone's belief that the bullpen has been "really good", it hasn't been. The unit has a dreadful 1.47 WHIP, a .274 batting average against, and only 56 strikeouts in 57 2/3 innings.

Chivilli was yet another reclamation project acquird by the Yankees in hopes they could tweak his arsenal and find another diamond in the rough, but there seems to be a long road ahead despite his promising showing in Triple-A so far.

The right-hander has tossed 8 1/3 scoreless innings with nine strikeouts (just two hits and two walks) at Scranton, but he also surrendered 11 earned runs on 11 hits and and three walks across eight spring training innings. We have no idea what we're about to get.

What can Yankees fans expect from Angel Chivilli's 2026 debut?

And the truth is ... Chivilli has little room for error. Even though he'll be considered the last guy in the bullpen, there's no way the Yankees can afford blowup/abbreviated outings. The rest of the unit has been wildly taxed in the early going and can't afford another wild card option.

Chivilli brings an impressive 97 MPH heater to the table as well as a changeup with significant movement. He also induces a lot of swing and miss. Sounds solid, doesn't it?

The problem is, the swing and miss haven't yielded the appropriate amount of strikeouts, and his expected metrics (xERA, xBA) were in the toilet last season. In 73 career MLB games, he owns a dreadful 6.18 ERA, 5.78 FIP and 1.55 WHIP. It's not a small sample size, either (90 1/3 innings).

Perhaps there's a fix here, but we can't be so sure after the Yankees already proved they already acquired a sunk cost from the Rockies in Bird. Fans are hoping for better days, but Chivilli will be up against it early on in 2026 and won't exactly be in a position to succeed.

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