Yankees Optioning Jake Bird Opens Door for Another Reliever's MLB Return

The Yankees finally gave their bullpen a much-needed shake-up on Saturday. Following a 10-2 loss to the Reds, the Yankees announced that right-handed reliever Jake Bird—along with catcher J.C. Escarra—had been optioned to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

Following today’s game, the Yankees optioned RHP Jake Bird and C J.C. Escarra to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) June 20, 2026

The writing has been on the wall for Bird, who was acquired before last year's trade deadline, since mid-April. The 30-year-old has been an unreliable relief option for the Yankees, pitching to a 4.88 ERA with three blown saves in 24 innings over 29 outings, all while conceding a career-worst .473 slugging percentage to opposing batters.

With Bird optioned, the Yankees promoted Elmer Rodríguez from Triple-A to start in Sunday's series finale with the Reds. Considering that Rodríguez's promotion is only happening to give the other starters extra rest, per manager Aaron Boone, there's a decent chance that he'll return to the RailRiders soon, which would allow New York to make another call-up.

And if that's the case, a certain 26-year-old pitcher deserves another look with the Yankees.

Yankees should consider a Yovanny Cruz call-up after Jake Bird's demotion

The Yankees will make it a priority to bolster their bullpen before the Aug. 3 trade deadline. At the same time, general manager Brian Cashman might want to save his prospects for the bigger fish in the pond (Ex. a potential Tarik Skubal trade), meaning it could be wise for New York to explore internal options, such as Yovanny Cruz.

Yovanny Cruz delivers a pitch. — Yovanny Cruz deserves another chance to work out of the Yankees' bullpen this season. | Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

After spending time with the Cubs, Padres and Red Sox, Cruz joined the Yankees via a minor-league contract back in November. The Dominican hurler has spent the majority of the 2026 campaign in Scranton and hasn't disappointed, going 5-3 with a 3.46 ERA and 36 strikeouts across 26 innings in 22 appearances. He's finished six games and even notched a pair of saves, with that success stemming from an impressive strikeout rate of 11.6 Ks per nine innings.

Digging deeper into his Triple-A performance, Cruz is limiting the opposition to a .186 expected batting average—among the 81st percentile, according to Prospect Savant. He also boasts a 32.1% strikeout rate (86th percentile) and 33.2% chase rate (84th), as well as a blistering 39.9% whiff rate (95th) thanks to a slider that can fool anyone.

A potential promotion would mark Cruz's second stint with the big-league club this season. The Yankees briefly promoted him in May and the experiment went well, as Cruz pitched 2 1/3 scoreless innings with three strikeouts and only one hit allowed before returning to Triple-A. It was also impressive to see what his slider could do at the MLB level.

Yovanny Cruz makes his MLB Debut!!

Cruz strikes out Okamoto for his first Major League Punchout!!

Nasty 90 MPH slider for the K⬇️ pic.twitter.com/MGVJ25ujPL
— Cai Rogers (@cai_rogers7) May 21, 2026

Admittedly, Cruz hasn't thrived since returning to the majors, as evidenced by his 5.68 ERA and 0-2 record through five outings (6 1/3 innings) in June. Having said that, he's still averaging a whopping 14.2 Ks per nine innings this month, so it hasn't been all bad. His 3.33 strikeouts per walk in June is also his second-best effort of any month so far, trailing only April (7.00).

Even if it was a small sample size, Cruz already proved that he can handle pitching out of the Yankees' bullpen. His recent stretch hasn't been great, sure, but an MLB call-up could potentially spark his confidence, allowing him to help New York with one of its top needs—also making Cashman's pre-deadline planning easier if Cruz proves that his success in May is replicable.

After Bird's disastrous run, it's hard to imagine any other internal solution being worse. It's time for the Yankees to give Cruz a shot and find out whether he can be a part of the solution or if they have to put more effort into finding an external bullpen upgrade.

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