Yankees sneak slugging former Rockies top prospect through waivers in savvy move

If I ran a team like the Colorado Rockies, I would try not to DFA potentially valuable players, especially those known for their light-tower power in a thin-air environment. But if I ran a team like the Yankees, I would do whatever it took, within the rules, to get my hands on those players. Whether it was all part of a multi-week plan or just a series of happy accidents, the Yankees managed to get a chain of events rolling with the Angel Chivilli trade that resulted in them snagging two tantalizing talents for the price of one.

Yanquiel Fernández, who once reached the Top 100 on both Baseball America and MLB Pipeline's pre-2024 assessments of the minor leagues, was DFA'd by the Rockies at the end of January on the very same day the Yankees swapped TJ Rumfield for Chivilli. That allowed Colorado to clear a second 40-man spot in one day to accommodate Edouard Julien and Pierson Ohl from the Twins.

So that's two out, two in. The "two out" were a bullpen wild card and a slugger with upper tank power. The two in were an infield prospect who'd previously cratered and a knuckleballer experimenter, whose offerings will be even tougher to control in Denver than they were in Minnesota.

Both the men exiting the Rockies that day have now ended up on the Yankees. Nobody loves the Rox like the Yanx.

Chivilli will compete for a bullpen role in camp. If he is unable to harness his stuff in time, the Yankees can stash him at Triple-A. It's unfair to say Fernández was claimed by the Bombers with the express purpose of shuttling him off the 40-man and down to the minors after a second DFA/second waiver clearing, but ... the Yankees certainly seemed to think he'd survive a second purge, and they were right.

Over the weekend, Fernández formally cleared waivers and will report to minor-league camp, staying in the system and likely taking aim at the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre scoreboard.

Yankees keep former Rockies top prospect Yanquiel Fernández after waiver wire chicanery

Surely, it bruises the pride of Colorado fans that the team lost him for next to nothing, the Yankees pulled a bit of chicanery, and here we are. Still, the solution is simple. If you don't want to take the risk of losing the player — if you believe in him even a little bit — don't trade for Edouard Julien in the first place. Pick an alternate DFA candidate, if you must — infielder Blaine Crim or utilty man Tyler Freeman, perhaps. If you'd like to keep Fernández, then don't let him go.

Now, it's the Yankees who can potentially profit from adding the 23-year-old who hit 13 homers in 64 games with Triple-A Albuquerque last season, hitting .284 with an .849 OPS. Will that potency translate to the less hitter-friendly International League? Thanks to some wise maneuvering, the Yankees get to be the ones to find out.