The Yankees announced a series of roster moves prior to today’s game, selecting a right-hander Chi Chi González to the active roster while designating a fellow right-hander Jacob Barnes for assignment. Additionally, infielder/outfielder Matt Carpenter was transferred to the 60-day injured list.
González, 30, has bounced around quite a bit this year. He signed a minor league deal with the Twins in March and briefly cracked the big league roster. After getting designated for assignment, he was claimed by the Brewers and spent just under a month with them before getting designated again. He signed a minor league deal with the Tigers but opted out of it without getting a call to the big leagues, then signed a minor league deal with the Yankees in late August. Through all of that, he’s thrown 18 1/3 innings at the big league level with a 6.87 ERA. He’s fared much better in the minors, throwing 80 1/3 innings with a 4.03 ERA, 20.8% strikeout rate and 7.9% walk rate.
As for Barnes, 32, he’s had a fairly similar season to González, getting brief tenures on various rosters around the league. He signed a minor league deal with the Tigers in the winter, cracking the Opening Day roster but getting designated in June. He then signed a minors deal with the Mariners and joined their roster but was designated again without making an appearance. He went back to the Tigers but was released and signed with the Yanks at the same time as González. He was selected to New York’s roster just yesterday and pitched 1 2/3 innings of mop-up duty while they were beating the Orioles 8-0. He’s thrown 22 1/3 total MLB innings this year with a 5.64 ERA but, similar to González, has been more impressive on the farm. In 18 minor league innings this year, he has an ERA of 2.00, along with a 32.9% strikeout rate and 9.2% walk rate. Since he’s out of options, the club had to designate him for assignment in order to get a fresh arm onto the roster.
As for Carpenter, this move is mostly a formality. He will be ineligible to return until 60 days from his initial IL placement, which was August 9, meaning he can return October 8. The Yanks already secured a bye through the first playoff round and will be playing in the ALDS beginning October 11. It was recently reported that the club plans to get him some at-bats with Double-A Somerset before returning to the big league club. Prior to fracturing his foot, he was having a comeback season for the ages, hitting 15 home runs in 47 games and slashing .305/.412/.727. The club will have the next week or so to decide if he’s healthy enough to earn a spot on their postseason roster.
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