The New York Yankees, with so many injuries, are desperate to add some depth to their relief corps.
This week, they already signed Chi Chi Gonzalez to a minor league deal, and now they are doing the same with Tyler Duffey.
“Tyler Duffey is signing with the Yankees. Reliever had 1.88 ERA and 0.79 WHIP in 2020,” Jon Heyman of MLB Network tweeted.
Tyler Duffey is signing with the Yankees. Reliever had 1.88 ERA and 0.79 WHIP in 2020.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) August 31, 2022
Duffey was extremely successful from 2019 to 2021, with a 2.69 ERA, a 1.06 WHIP, and a 174/48 K/BB ratio in 144 innings with the Minnesota Twins.
Things went downhill this year, though, and the Twins released him earlier this month.
The Texas Rangers scooped him up, but he opted out of a minor league deal with them on Sunday.
The Yankees See Bounce-back Potential In Duffey
Duffey is a 31-year-old right-hander who has been successful in the past.
The Yankees are known for getting the best out of pitchers with little to no hope: after all, they rescued Lucas Luetge out of nowhere in 2021, they developed Michael King into a top-tier reliever, they traded for Clay Holmes and turned him into a legit late-inning weapon, and so on.
From 2015 to 2018, Duffey was a mediocre swingman for the Twins, but he took a step forward in 2019 with a 2.50 ERA.
His excellent performance carried over to 2020 (1.88 ERA) and 2021 (3.18 ERA).
This season, however, he has a mediocre 4.91 ERA, and found himself out of the Twins bullpen in the summer.
He is hoping the Yankees give him a second chance, and the organization certainly would like to recover at least a part of the pitcher he was from 2019-2021.
It’s a low-risk, high-reward move both for the team and for the pitcher, as he looks for a new long-term home.
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