The Yankees announced that they’ve designated injured right-hander Nathan Eovaldi, recently claimed lefty Joe Mantiply and right-hander Nick Rumbelow for assignment. Additionally, right-hander Branden Pinder has been outrighted. Those moves, in addition to the trade of James Pazos to the Mariners, make room on the 40-man roster for the additions of infielder Miguel Andujar, lefty Dietrich Enns, shortstop Jorge Mateo and right-handers Giovanny Gallegos, Ronald Herrera and Yefrey Ramirez.
Eovaldi’s inclusion in this list will come as a surprise to many, but it’s important to recall that he underwent Tommy John/flexor tendon surgery back in August and is unlikely to be healthy enough to pitch next season. Considering the fact that he was arbitration eligible this winter and then would be a free agent after the 2017 season, there was never any chance that the Yankees were going to commit millions of dollars to him in arbitration. He’ll clear waivers and be released, freeing him up to potentially sign a backloaded two-year deal that would afford him minimal pay and a chance to rehab in 2017 plus a modest base salary for the 2018 campaign. Pinder and Rumbelow, too, suffered torn UCLs and underwent Tommy John surgery this year, though their operations were performed earlier in the year.
Mantiply, 25, logged just 2 2/3 innings and surrendered five runs on seven hits and a pair of walks in his MLB debut with the Tigers this year. His minor league work, though, was outstanding, as he pitched to a 2.73 ERA with 10.5 K/9 against 1.8 BB/9 in 59 1/3 innings between the Double-A and Triple-A levels. Though Mantiply works with limited fastball velocity, at best (he averaged 87.5 mph on his fastball in his brief September call-up), he’s posted a sub-3.00 ERA in each season of his pro career since being drafted in the 27th round by Detroit back in 2013. The Yankees claimed him off waivers earlier this month.
Mateo rates as one of the Yankees’ No. 3 prospect on the Yankees’ midseason top 30 list at MLB.com and ranked fourth among Yankees’ farmhands on Baseball America’s most recent top 10 list (which was issued after the season). Andujar (7) and Enns (25) were both on the aforementioned MLB.com list.
