Yankees' roster move after Tigers sweep shows they are letting swoon eat them alive

After their seventh straight loss on Thursday — this was one another extra-innings affair in which they dropped the ball harder than they did at Fenway — the Yankees clearly didn't read the room with the roster move they made barely an hour later.

Reliever Yovanny Cruz was optioned back to Scranton after tossing two scoreless innings on Tuesday. The move was to make room for closer David Bedmar, who will return for the series opener against the Twins on Friday (the Yanks have Thursday off, THANK GOD).

We knew one reliever was going to lose their roster spot, but Cruz really didn't feel like the correct move here. Bird, who happened to pitch well in this series, has been terrible all year. He's shown the Yankees nothing. At this point, he's not an asset for 2026. It's too late. He had the second half of 2025 and the first half of this year to prove that. He didn't. It's time for somebody else to get an audition with time running out before the trade deadline.

Cruz seemed like a logical choice. He throws hard. He generates swing and miss. He's a younger option with energy instead of a middling veteran still trying to find his way. But the Yankees are allergic to change. They're allergic to going against the grain when things spiral out of control.

You and I both know they aren't taking this seven-game losing streak seriously. Aaron Boone's constant affirmations further prove that. Aaron Judge's comments on the team's "lack of focus" just didn't really hit hard enough. Once again, there needs to be a middle ground between the toxic positivity and somebody bashing in all of the coolers in the dugout. We're not asking for much here.

Yankees optioning Yovanny Cruz is a symbol of their losing streak fully taking over

Cruz is by no means an X-factor. It's unclear if he's even capable of being an asset yet. But the Yankees opting to never find out is exactly the problem. They need bullpen answers before the Aug. 3 trade deadline, and they are no closer to finding internal solutions than they were dating back to spring training.

Getting two-inning glimpses of Cruz every month isn't going to answer any major questions. Continuing to trot Bird out there despite getting the same results over and over again is the exact energy losing teams exude.

Nobody is ignoring the fact the Yankees are down bad the injuries right now. That's the main reason for their current woes. The lack of personnel finally caught up to them and they're starting to sink, and at this point we're really not sure if the returns of Trent Grisham and Ryan McMahon will change much after all the damage that's been done.

All anybody asks for is something different. A tighter ship. Decisions with intent behind them. One day of Cruz is not any of that. One day of Cruz is a slap in the face to the 26-year-old as well as the fanbase. And until the Yankees learn these are the types of decisions that both hold them back and exacerbate the bad optics, the annual swoons and postseason failures will loom large.

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