Why the Yankees ditched the reliever they had traded for two weeks earlier
The Yankees needed to subtract one pitcher from their bullpen in order to make room for spot starter Will Warren on Wednesday in Chicago and righty Enyel De Los Santos — with his 14.21 ERA in pinstripes — was the odd man out.
De Los Santos was designated for assignment Wednesday afternoon. He was acquired from the Padres in one of the Yankees’ two trade deadline deals designed to upgrade their bullpen, but lasted only two weeks with the big-league club.
The Yankees needed to call up Warren because of the rainouts this past week at Yankee Stadium. The subsequent doubleheaders threw a wrench in their starting pitching plans, creating a hole in their five-man schedule during the White Sox series. Either they needed to roll with a bullpen game or a minor-league arm needed to be called up.
Warren was optioned back down to Triple-A less than 15 days ago, so normally, he’d be ineligible to be recalled again. Since the Yankees had an injury — Jazz Chisholm Jr. went on the IL with a left elbow strain on Wednesday — the 15-day timeline was no longer applicable. Former top prospect Oswald Peraza was also called up to take Chisholm’s spot, rounding out the sudden flurry of roster moves.
The only pitcher in the Yankees’ bullpen that has minor-league options available is Jake Cousins. He wasn’t going to be demoted, though. Cousins has carved out a role for himself in the back of the bullpen, earning the first save of his MLB career in a win over the White Sox on Tuesday night. He has a 2.14 ERA since June 27.
Had De Los Santos pitched better, the Yankees could’ve cut ties with another arm. The right-hander didn’t do himself any favors over his first five outings with his new team. De Los Santos didn’t have one clean outing. He gave up a hit in each of his first two scoreless appearances before allowing 10 runs over his next four innings, including a seven-run meltdown against the White Sox in Monday’s embarrassing loss at Guaranteed Rate Field.
“It was a tough call,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “Feel like he’s better than certainly the last couple results he’s had, but those things come up over the course of the year. In this case, the rainouts put us up against it. We didn’t feel like we could get through with just a full bullpen day, so had to make the tough call.”
Asked if he can pinpoint what went wrong with De Los Santos, Yankees pitching coach Matt Blake singled out the right-hander’s fastball. Blake gave De Los Santos some grace with the challenges of adjusting to a new team as well.
“I think he’s better than how he pitched here,” Blake said. “Career wise, he’s been better than that. Just got to a spot where he wasn’t quite commanding the fastball the way he wanted to, wasn’t quite getting slider where he wanted to and got thrown into some tough spots where he had to pick up some length, which is never ideal. You’d like to get him against the righties as much as possible. And then he just got into a roster jam.”
The Yankees traded speedy outfield prospect Brandon Lockridge to the Padres in the De Los Santos deal. They also acquired minor-league pitcher Thomas Balboni Jr. from San Diego in the trade.
