Yankees Learning Important Lessons After Fernando Cruz Injury

Relievers are volatile, hence why teams have stopped investing heavily in their bullpens, but it also makes them worth reinforcing.

Here's what the Yankees can take away from Fernando Cruz's ongoing absence, regardless of how long it lasts. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The Yankees got a pretty big blow to the construction of their bullpen in this crucial stretch of the season on Wednesday night, as after Wednesday's 9-3 win over the Astros, manager Aaron Boone announced that right-handed reliever Fernando Cruz has a partial tear in his UCL, according to MLB.com's Bryan Hoch, likely ending his season.

Fernando Cruz has a partial tear of his right UCL. He is seeking second opinions but surgery is on the table.

— Bryan Hoch ⚾️ (@BryanHoch) August 27, 2026

The injury, which was initially described as elbow soreness following another rough outing on Tuesday, could lead to Tommy John surgery, which could take him out for most, if not all, of the 2027 season. With Cruz nearing his 37th birthday next March and staring down a lengthy recovery, it's fair to assume that his fun but brief Yankees career could be over as soon as it started.

The tenure of Cruz was the same as a dozen others in the recent history of the Yankees, where a reliever is discovered out of nowhere, produces for a small spurt, and then washes away as quickly as they emerged. It's a cruel and grueling cycle, but it gives us a pair of lessons to learn from yet another example of the life of a relief pitcher in 2026.

Reliever volatility has caused a change in Yankees' organizational philosophy

Relievers are more important than ever in MLB, especially as the starting pitcher tosses fewer and fewer innings on average every year, but just because teams are realizing how important it is to have a strong bullpen doesn't mean those units get the proper investments.

Gone are the days when MLB teams view their bullpen as a place to direct a good chunk of their spending. No position group has seen more of a crunch in the middle class of its players than relievers, as outside of a few special arms that earn $10 million+ average annual value contracts every offseason, most are stuck digging for one-year contracts or multi-year low-AAV deals.

It wasn't too long ago that the Yankees invested nearly a quarter of their payroll into the bullpen, handing out big contracts to the likes of Aroldis Chapman, Zack Britton, and Adam Ottavino to ensure they'd have an advantage in every close game, but they learned the game of reliever volatility pretty quickly.

The shelf life of MLB pitchers, especially effective ones, is shorter than ever due to the push to maximize velocity and movement. Chapman was an effective closer for a long time with the Yankees, but his utter implosion in the second half of both the 2021 and 2022 seasons felt ridiculous for his price tag. Britton's last two years as a Yankee were marred by injury and tremendous struggles. Ottavino was salary-dumped after a horrid 2020 season.

No reliever seems inherently immune to this. Fireballers consistently deal with arm issues; guys with multiple years of closer-level production change uniforms and immediately flounder. There was no bigger sure thing than the Dodgers signing Edwin Diaz this offseason, and all he's done for them is post an abysmal 11.85 ERA across 13.2 innings while getting himself in trouble for a cockfighting ring. We all remember the Devin Williams fiasco in pinstripes from last season, as well.

Cruz is the latest in a long line of Yankee relievers acquired for nothing, turned into gold, and cast aside after injuries or regression hit. Acquired for a regressing, glove-first catcher in Jose Trevino, the splitter aficionado has a 3.33 ERA across 110 appearances as a Yankee, being prone to shoddy command and bad stretches, but usually being a valuable leverage option for the team.

We've seen this story before. Clay Holmes was acquired for Hoy Park and Jake Cousins and had several strong seasons here. Jake Cousins was claimed off waivers in 2024 and had a productive season before blowing out his elbow. Both Tim Hill and Brent Headrick were claimed off waivers from floundering AL Central teams and turned into gems. Both Luke Weaver and Paul Blackburn found something on small contracts after being cast off as unproductive starters. Lucas Luetge signed a minor league deal and became a lefty ace for two years in his mid-30s. On and on we go.

Highly touted arms fail, and inconspicuous arms dominate. It's as random and volatile a position as the sport has ever seen, but even despite Matt Blake's tremendous ability to uncover gem after gem, this injury also highlights a blind spot in Brian Cashman's evaluation of the roster.

Yankees' Decision To Not Bolster Bullpen at Trade Deadline Costing Them Dearly

The Yankees look relatively smart for not investing in what has been a relatively poor group of relievers last offseason, instead banking on internal development. Such internal development has uncovered gems in Blackburn and Headrick, but are limited in nature. You'll get a few of these per season, but not enough to cover a bullpen.

Now, their plan also relied on Camilo Doval finding it after a rough patch to end last season, as well as continued production from Cruz and Hill, but none of those guys are currently in the circle of trust, leaving them extremely vulnerable.

You can excuse the inactivity in the offseason for the reasons listed above, but when allowed to add at the deadline for the stretch run, they simply decided not to. That looked like a big oversight at the time, particularly when you consider that the team has often added at least one reliever at every deadline since 2021, including the notoriously inactive 2023 deadline with Keynan Middleton.

The justification was probably rooted in the team's plan to use converted starters in the bullpen, both down the stretch and into the postseason, but such a plan has gone up in smoke due to recent injuries to Max Fried and Ryan Weathers, although neither's season appears to be in jeopardy. Despite that, it likely wasn't in the team's plans for Will Warren to keep starting this late into the season.

Injuries to other Yankees starters have forced Will Warren to take on a bigger role than expected. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The reliance on health, something the Yankees have had very little of this season, was definitely a shortsighted decision. It's entirely possible that, come playoff time, the Yankees might have a formidable bullpen with Bednar, Headrick, Blackburn, Hill, Weathers, Warren, the returning Clarke Schmidt, and maybe even a wild card like Michael Fulmer, but there's way too much reliance on everything going right from here.

The prices for relievers of all walks of life were exorbitant, but with a deadline that felt half-cooked with the acquisition of only Luis García Jr. and Heliot Ramos, they probably could've afforded to hold their nose and overpay, even if just to ensure they wouldn't be toeing a dangerous line in such a crucial part of the season.

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