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.
