On the eve of Opening Day, the Yankees made a final bullpen decision on Wednesday, choosing left-hander Brent Headrick and rookie right-hander Yoendrys Gomez over veteran righty Yerry De Los Santos for their 26-man roster.
If no further moves are made before Thursday’s 3:05 p.m. game against the Milwaukee Brewers at Yankee Stadium, infielder/outfielder Pablo Reyes will be added to the 40-man roster and make the team.
The Yankees have also been looking for an external addition to strengthen their bench, possibly targeting a right-handed bat to cover some of the at-bats for the injured Giancarlo Stanton. On Wednesday, they finalized their 26-man roster by optioning De Los Santos to Triple-A and placing eight players on the injured list.
Six right-handed pitchers were added to the 15-day IL:
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Starters: Clarke Schmidt (right rotator cuff tendonitis) and JT Brubaker (left rib fractures)
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Relievers: Clayton Beeter (right shoulder impingement syndrome), Scott Effross (left hamstring strain), Ian Hamilton (viral illness), and Jonathan Loaisiga (right elbow surgery recovery)
Additionally, two position players were placed on the 10-day IL:
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Infielder DJ LeMahieu (left calf strain) and designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton (right and left elbow epicondylitis).
In the past week, the Yankees also put two starting pitchers on the 60-day IL: right-handers Gerrit Cole (Tommy John surgery) and Luis Gil (right lat strain). All IL stints were backdated to March 24, three days before the season opener.
Although reliever Jake Cousins’ IL stint wasn’t officially announced, he didn’t appear in any spring games due to a forearm strain and won’t be ready for Opening Day.
Gomez’s inclusion on the Opening Day roster was expected after his impressive spring performance, where he pitched 11.1 scoreless innings across seven Grapefruit League games, striking out nine and walking four.
Despite having a better spring ERA (1.93 compared to Headrick’s 5.40), De Los Santos (1.93 ERA, 9.1 IP, 9 K, 6 BB) was left off the roster. He had six walks in his appearances, while Headrick struck out 18 with seven walks over 11.2 innings.
