2 Bullpen Moves the Yankees Can Make to Start June on the Right Note

Don't let Monday's 4-3 win fool you. The New York Yankees need to make some changes to their bullpen. Shutting out the Rays and threading the needle against the Royals seems like the bullpen did its job. While the offense would have been the biggest culprit had the Yankees lost, it could have been another winnable game that the pen handed over.

Despite being armed with a wicked sweeper that resembles the fabled Daisuke Matsuzaka gyro ball from the early 2000s, Bobby Witt Jr.'s home run against Jake Bird would have been another late-inning loss had it not been for Anthony Volpe's heroics. Bird has now allowed nine earned runs and two homers in 17 innings pitched this year.

Bobby Witt Jr. HAMMERS one out to give the @Royals a late lead! pic.twitter.com/pHGpbBzKnL
— MLB (@MLB) May 25, 2026

Bird has been better of late, allowing only two runs for all of May. However, it's still hard to trust anybody that manager Aaron Boone is rolling out these days. A lot of it is trauma from 2025 and all the blown leads from Luke Weaver and Devin Williams, but it doesn't feel like they have a set lane to get to David Bednar — the best of the question marks in that bullpen.

In the short term, there aren't many stable options unless the Yankees decide to overpay on the trade market. They can make a small tweak that can stabilize the bullpen a bit.

With both Paul Blackburn and Ryan Yarbrough essentially having the same role as long-relief options, Boone is essentially playing with a bullpen arm shortage. It's true that they need to ease Gerrit Cole and Carlos Rodon into their roles as starters, and innings are a premium until then. It's just hard to imagine that both Blackburn and Yarbrough are a necessity on the roster as constructed.

Bringing back Yovanny Cruz

The Yankees should cut loose at least one of them and give a chance to their hard-throwing bullpen arm, Yovanny Cruz. The Yankees should have kept Cruz in the fold to begin with. This idea is less about picking on Bird, who had one bad moment against what could be the Most Valuable Player in the American League, and more about giving Boone more possibilities late in the game.

New York Yankees pitcher Yovanny Cruz (96) delivers a pitch, during his major league debut, against the Blue Jays in the eighth inning at Yankee Stadium. | Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

Cruz is a journeyman pitcher, and isn't exactly the second-coming of Mariano Rivera — few are — but that fastball would at least play up in the big leagues. He has averaged 99.3 MPH on it, according to Prospect Savant, and for a bullpen that relies on soft contact with the Tim Hills of the world having a starring role in it late in games, that velocity would play up in the big leagues.

If Cruz is just another Albert Abreu who has a bigger arm than he has talent, that's fine, too. At some point, they'll have options to play with between the deadline and potentially adding Carlos Lagrange or Ryan Weathers to the bullpen.

Yarbrough vs. Blackburn

As for who the Yankees should oust, Blackburn is probably the weak link of the two between him and Yarbrough. Blackburn may have a lower ERA, as his 3.22 ERA is a full run less than Yarbrough's 4.32, but it's a small sample size.

One thing about Yarbrough is his elite contact rates. In many ways, it's like having another Hill. Yarbrough averages 87.5 MPH on his fastball, but has a 96th percentile Average Exit Velocity, a 95th percentile barrel rate, and a 99th percentile hard hit rate.

The Yankees indeed need more swing-and-miss, but those underlying metrics are hard to ignore. Yarbrough is a weapon and has more of a future with the Yankees than Blackburn. Of course, if the Yankees want to hold on to Blackburn a bit longer as they wait for one of their aces, Max Fried, to return, he could be of some use in a minor trade if that low three ERA holds up.

Everybody is looking for innings in this league. They could always ship Blackburn back to the Mets.

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