Yankees re-sign injured bullpen piece after ridiculously expensive rumors swirled

To be honest, New York Yankees fans were thinking more along the lines of Cody Bellinger, Kyle Tucker, Alex Bregman or Devin Williams after Brian Cashman sealed the deal with Max Fried on Tuesday night.

But Wednesday has largely come and gone with little action. In the meantime, the Yankees made a relatively minor (but frustrating) move to address their pitching staff for 2025.

According to reports, they have reunited with right-hander Jonathan Loaisiga on a one-year contract (with a team option for 2026). The Yankees were reportedly doing battle with the Mets for the reliever as some pricey rumors swirled, including one erroneous bit of nonsense implying that Steve Cohen had paid Loaisiga $27 million.

Earlier on Wednesday, Randy Miller of NJ.com reported Loaisiga had a two-year, $6 million offer from the Mets, and it included an $11 million club option for 2027. Miller said the Yankees were also in the two-year, $6 million range.

In the end, it appears he took a lesser deal to stay with the Yankees, the team that saved his career and made him into a high-leverage bullpen arm.

Yankees News: Jonathan Loaisiga re-signs with New York for 2025

This marks the Yankees' second move in free agency after their eight-year, $218 million agreement with Fried. But there's so much more that needs to be done.

If Loaisiga is being brought back as a luxury addition, then fine. Take another chance on him if you're able to spend a few million to see if he can bounce back to his 2021 form. But if he's counted on to offer 50+ pressure-packed innings in 2025? Absolutely not. Cannot be part of the plan.

Loaisiga has pitched in just 70 total games the last three seasons as he dealt with persistent elbow trouble over that span. The issues started to bark in 2022. Then they came to a head in 2023 when he needed surgery to remove bone chips. And then it all fell apart in 2024 when he needed internal brace surgery in place of Tommy John. To date, he has just one respectable campaign under his belt, and the Yankees can't seem to quit him (they had the chance to non-tender him last year and save $2.5 million).

They'll see this investment through, though, and hopefully more bullpen additions are on the way, because that unit cannot risk being under constant duress in 2025.