Yankees surprisingly DFA former top prospect to promote secret bullpen weapon

In a move that felt unavoidable for the Yankees, one of their early significant contributors to the bullpen (in terms of innings pitched) has been DFA'd. It's a real Catch-22 for fringe prospects, after all. If you're good at soaking up innings in chunks, you'll continue to be used for that purpose. Eventually, the team will need a fresh arm after you've helped them out, and you'll be let go.

That day was Tuesday for former Top 10 Yankees prospect Yoendrys Gómez, out of options to start the 2025 season and (usually) making the most of his time on the MLB roster, save for one soggy outing against the San Francisco Giants.

Gómez gave the team an injury scare that night when his velocity dipped in stormy conditions. If he actually had been hurt, his job would've been spared this week.

Instead, he's been DFA'd in favor of left-hander Tyler Matzek, who'll make his Yankees debut whenever he first appears in pinstripes. Gómez threw three innings and allowed one earned run against the Guardians on Monday night.

Yankees DFA Yoendrys Gómez, promote Tyler Matzek for NYY debut

Matzek was silently activated from the Triple-A IL less than two weeks ago after suffering an oblique issue early in spring training. Before the injury, he was an underdog favorite to grab an Opening Day roster spot. After he went down, that made the Yankees' decision on the out-of-options Gómez much easier, and gave the right-hander a 10-inning window to make an impression on interested teams prior to his DFA. Not bad.

Since his activation, the 34-year-old Matzek has made five appearances in Scranton, allowing two earned runs on six hits in 5 2/3 frames. He's also struck out seven.

Matzek, known for his impressive gut checks and nerves of steel during the Braves' 2021 World Series run, will hopefully provide the Yankees' bullpen with an additional dose of gumption. He also continues the team's ongoing obsession with pitchers with first-round pedigree; Matzek was selected 11th overall out of high school in 2009.

Gómez? He seemed like a decent rotation depth option, and it's somewhat surprising to see him go. The Yankees were between a rock and a hard place and out of ideas here, though, so he had to be DFA'd. Odds of another team scooping him up are extremely high.

With New York about to play their 12th game out of 13 in consecutive days, they're close to the end of this high-stress challenge, but not out of the woods yet. Matzek will, hopefully, be the final card they play.