Yankees swipe reliever with powerful story from Pirates' farm system

The New York Yankees have yet to handle any high-profile business this winter — Brian Cashman really doesn't like those offers (and other teams really don't like his), huh? While they haven't managed to push any blockbusters across the finish line, they have taken care of their own (Tim Hill, Ryan Yarbrough), and they've also beefed up the bullpen.

No, no, not with Robert Suarez or Edwin Diaz. Or anyone you've ever met before. But they've certainly added name after name in recent days.

For the first time since 2011, the Yankees made a Rule 5 draft selection at the MLB level: Cade Winquest, a swingman in the Cardinals' system. He has to stay in the Yankees' bullpen all season long (as long as he's healthy), lest he be offered back to his former club. The Yankees obviously believe in him and felt like sacrificing a 40-man spot to make their tinkering a reality. He's going to get every last bit of consideration.

Sliding in behind Winquest will be two arms the Yankees have brought in on minor-league deals over the past two days: Bradley Hanner from the Guardians system, a righty with a wipeout slider in the Scott Effross mold (with a 4.91 career MiLB ERA), and now Drake Fellows, formerly of the Pirates' system.

Yankees import high-strikeout arm Drake Fellows from Pirates' minor league system

Fellows was a sixth-round pick out of Vanderbilt by the Padres back in 2019, and has slid back and forth from the bullpen to the rotation at every minor league stop along the way. The slider is his calling card (per Heyman), much like Hanner. Both men are comparable physically — we're talking about one reliever who's 6-foot-4 and 210 pounds and another who's 6-foot-5 and 216. The Yankees have a type. Matt Blake knows what he wants.

Fellows found his way to Pittsburgh's system in the Joe Musgrove trade in 2021, but he never actually appeared in a Padres uniform after facing significant adversity. He was diagnosed with cancer after his post-draft physical, and rehabbed throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, his season cancelled and his workouts solemn. Now, the Yankees will give him a chance to make a powerful reintroduction at spring training after a solid, yet hittable season in Triple-A with the Buccos (4.41 ERA, 94 Ks in 112 innings pitched with a .258 opponents' average, roughly in line with his career norms).