CASHMAN BAGS ANOTHER BARGAIN FIND!

The Yankees certainly have mastered the "bargain shop" mentality this winter minus the notable exception of DJ LeMahieu. The Yankees got creative to make the budget friendly changes they were looking for and they just made another one. Question now is....will it pan out?

I shop on a budget all the time, but I am glad my name isn't Brian Cashman and I don't have to do it for Yankee brass. His creativity is next level. I shop generic store brands at the grocery store and he shops the low-risk high reward or "nobody wants but we can fix" ballplayers. He's crafty, and he just did it again by signing Kyle Barraclough to a minor league deal.

We wondered if the Yankees would look for another reliever after they traded Adam Ottavino to the Red Sox. Barraclough has an invite to Spring Training and we will see if he can pitch his way back to a major league job. 

Barraclough doesn't look so exciting on paper, but that's where the bargain comes in. He was a hard throwing right hander who overcame some control problems earlier in his career as a Marlin earlier in his career and pitched to a 2.87 ERA between 2015-2017. The wheels fell off after that and pitched to a 5.61 ERA in 2019 where he split time between the Nationals and the Giants. After the Giants cut ties with him he signed with the Padres on a minor league deal last season but elected free agency before the season started and no one else picked him up.

So that's why he's a bargain deal for us. No one else wanted him and Cashman got the deal. Clearly the Yankees pitching staff thinks they can fix him and if it works out then it's a brilliant move and we will all call Cashman a genius (again) later. 

At this point, I'm just glad Ottavino is gone and if it doesn't work out, the Yankees can just stash him down in the minors. 

Random thought, his last name makes me think of a BEAR CLAW donut and I am suddenly hungry. At any rate....welcome to the Bronx, Barraclough!

  --Jeana Bellezza-Ochoa

     BYB Managing Editor

    Twitter: @nyprincessj