Yankees reveal unexpected reliever's shoulder injury after activating Ryan Weathers

Things were going a little too well for the New York Yankees amid their seven-game heater that's taken them through Boston and Houston, so the Injury Gods decided to knock them down a peg.

First came Giancarlo Stanton's lower leg aggravation, which led to his removal from Friday night's blowout win over the Astros. Saturday's starter, Ryan Weathers, had to be activated from the paternity list before he could record an out, and everyone thought a Stanton roster move (Jasson Domínguez?) and the demotion of Weathers' replacement, Jake Bird, would constitute Saturday's shuffle.

Wrong. Stanton is staying active (for now), while it'll be reliever Angel Chivilli who goes down for Weathers - not on a minor league option, but with a shoulder injury.

Chivilli, the Yankees' second choice after Bird was demoted a week and a half ago (behind Yerry de los Santos), made it 2 1/3 innings across two games before going down.

Yankees stuck with Jake Bird after offseason Angel Chivilli experiment dealt another blow

Was it likely that Chivilli was going to emerge into a crucial piece of this bullpen in 2026? Nah. It's much more likely that he'd merely persist as a reminder of their half-in bullpen building strategy instead of provide a significant boost. The only two relievers the Yankees acquired this offseason were Rule 5 pick Cade Winquest (already returned to the Cardinals) and Chivilli, who posted a 7.06 ERA with the 2025 Rockies (where he was Bird's teammate).

So far, his legacy with the MLB club is surrendering a monstrous home run to Mike Trout almost immediately after Paul O'Neill called his stuff unhittable on paper.

That's Chivilli's issue (and the reason he was dropped on Matt Blake's plate this offseason). The stuff leaps off the screen. The sequencing and refinement could use a pointer or two or 12,000. Trout took him yard because he spammed one of this generation's greatest hitters in-zone changeup after in-zone changeup. You can teach command, but unless you're the man on the mound, you can't do anything to ensure those lessons are followed.

Maybe Chivilli re-emerges somewhere down the line. But shoulder discomfort is no joke, and he was already hanging on to a big-league roster spot by a thread. All the Yankees can do is hope Bird can succeed in low-leverage, without a viable alternative.

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