The Yankees announced that they selected the contract of right-hander Matt Bowman yesterday and optioned him to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. In order to open a spot for him on the 40-man roster, third baseman Josh Donaldson was transferred to the 60-day IL.
Bowman, 32, signed a minor league deal with the club in the offseason and has been in Triple-A all year. He’s made 30 appearances and tossed 38 1/3 innings with a 3.29 earned run average. Neither his 22% strikeout rate nor his 11% walk rate are especially strong but he’s kept the ball on the ground at a 59.6% clip. It was reported on the weekend that Bowman triggered an opt-out in his deal, giving the club 72 hours to either add him to their roster or return him to the open market. It seems they have decided on the former, though he will stay in Triple-A for now. As soon as he spends 20 days on optional assignment, he will burn that final option and be out of options in 2024.
This will be his first time on a major league roster in almost three years. It was reported in September of 2020 that Bowman, then with the Reds, would require Tommy John surgery. He was outrighted by that club shortly thereafter and the Yanks then signed him to a two-year minor league contract covering the 2021-2022 seasons. Unfortunately, he didn’t pitch in either of those seasons before rejoining the Yankees on another minor league deal for 2023. Prior to those obstacles, he had made 183 major league appearances for the Cardinals and Reds with a 4.02 ERA.
As for Donaldson, 37, he was placed on the 10-day IL on the weekend due to a calf strain. It was reported in recent days that further testing placed his strain somewhere between a Grade 2+ and Grade 3. Manager Aaron Boone said it would be “a decent amount of time” before Donaldson would be back and it seems the club has decided he’s unlikely to return until very late in the season at the earliest. He’s now officially ineligible to return until 60 days from that initial IL placement, which would be in the middle of September in a best-case scenario.
That leaves a small window for Donaldson to return late in the year but raises the possibility that his tenure with the Yankees is effectively done. That’s not guaranteed, as the club hasn’t provided any more specifics on his estimated absence, but it seems to be on the table. Acquired from the Twins in a five-player trade prior to the 2022 season, his offensive production tailed off immediately after that deal. He hit .272/.373/.514 from 2013 to 2021 but has hit just .207/.293/.385 since donning pinstripes. He also missed almost two months earlier this year due to a right hamstring strain.
He’s in the final guaranteed season of his contract, with a $16MM mutual option for 2024 that comes with a $6MM buyout if the team declines. Given his downturn in production, injury issues and the fact that he turns 38 in the winter, it seems unlikely that the Yankees would have much interest in that net $10MM price point.
There’s a name I haven’t heard in years. What’s Bowman been up to?
Manufacturing and selling sports cards.
Bought A LOT from him
He’s been pitching in the Yankees’ system. He opted out of his contract, so they had to either select him or release him.
Pretty decent rule 5 pick up from 17-18? Maybe over use got to him?
Bow wow? Not the move I was hoping for.
The best move ever.
“I can easily say he’s a two-way force in this game, in my opinion.” – Brian Cashman on Josh Donaldson before the 2023 season
I say the same thing when I’m prairie-dogging it on road trips.
Hell yeah bruthur
Two way a hole he meant
Did Florial hit on Cashman’s wife or something? What does this guy have to do (and how bad does the offense have to get) before this guy gets another chance?
He tried to hit on Cashman’s wife but he whiffed.
DCartrow – Cashman is a cuck so I don’t think he would mind if Florial hit on his wife 🙂
“Hit on Cashman’s wife”…Cmon bro, you almost made me lose my iced carmel macchiato on that one; do you have any idea how much those things cost, lol?
Cashman has been divorced for 10 years.
Florial’s 35% K rate is what is blocking him from returning to the majors.
So about the same as Stanton? Less than Gallo had. Donaldson, too, is up there. And how many millions did they pay them? But Florial a step too far for some reason. Not the strikeouts, because it doesn’t seem to bother the Yanks with other players.
I don’t think they want to expose him before the deadline. His value right now is in the minors with the .900 – .1000 ops
bingo
“Donaldson to the 60 day IL” best news heard by Yankee fans all season.
Tbh I’m looking forward to seeing the MLBTR article saying he’s retiring or signing with a KBO team
Haha. They’ve already use the misnomers slugger, an all-star, when referring to that clown. They must be thinking about 2005
Is Donaldson the new AJ Pierzinski ? Most hated player in the game
Clearly the only person that loves him is Brian Cashman.
Whichever team AJ was on, his mates loved him. Not the same with Donaldson. He has the unhappy faculty to metasticize his own clubhouse.
I think Donaldson is based on Jack Parkman from Major League 2.
Buyouts for doing nothing are great. $6 million just to say : “go away “…
The Yankees if they are lucky Donaldson will no longer take the field for them.
The Yankees could have released him before the season, had they wanted to, so it was always their call if they wanted to be “lucky” or not.
In his case, it’s worth it to pay him to go far far away.
Donaldson is garbage on the field and a garbage human being. Worst trade ever. Made no sense to begin with. Yankees claim they have class and vilify the Red Sox but they’re just as classless of an organization signing a punk like Donaldson with his fauwhawk
Yankees made the Donaldson trade to get rid of Sanchez. The Yankees would of been better off releasing Sanchez outright instead of taking on the contract of Donaldson and losing Ushela in the process.
True indeed. Cashman couldn’t admit the fact, that Sanchez was cooked , that he held onto him for too long, and did not want to lose him for nothing. So he made a more grievous error in picking up his option, and bringing on Donaldson who cost three times more, to unload him. Typical cashman though, just amazing that he still has a job
Why is garbage, can you give 2 samples of that?
Donaldson is a known clown around baseball. Always starts drama. He also sucks at baseball which makes him taking up a roster spot even mote insufferable
Definitely
Bringer of Strain
8 mil buyout
Donaldson was the biggest a hole in baseball.
He’s literally Jack Parkman.
“I WANT PARKMAN.”
Best get off the tracks when the train’s coming through.