YAY! THE YANKEES ADD DEPTH & STEAL A RED SOX GUY!

If you were waiting for the first flashy pick up for the offseason.... get comfortable, it hasn't happened yet. The Yankees made a move, but it wasn't particularly splashy. In fact, it was so opposite of splashy that it took a few days after it happened to hit the official roster page.

So there you have the official announcement on the roster page. Yovanny Cruz was a Red Sox guy and now he is a Yankee. On November 6th he elected free agency from Boston, and the Yankees signed him as a free agent two days later. He's currently pitching in the Dominican Winter League and he is set to report to Triple-A at the start of the season. Yay.

Last season he pitched to a 3.04 ERA in 59 1/3 innings, all out of the bullpen, for Double-A Portland. He's got some raw talent and a nice-looking fastball, but he needs to work on his control, he walked 44 batters, but he also struck out 72. So, he's got potential but that isn't a quick fix for a Triple-A promotion. If the Yankees can take some of his crazy stuff they might have a legit relief option. It gives the Yankees some depth, which any team always needs but is especially true for the Yankees because anything that can go wrong does seem to find a way to go wrong.

Cruz has some high potential but he is 26 years old and hasn't made an appearance in the majors yet. He still has his rookie eligibility and his minor league options. It will be interesting to see what his path looks like here. Will he stick around? He could choose to leave at the end of the 2026 season and opt for free agency again and do it every season until he gets the call to the majors and signs a guaranteed contract.

So thank you Yankees for the aging depth piece that hasn't even pitched in Triple-A yet. No offense, Cruz. For however long you are here I hope you do well. We are still raising our pitchforks and chasing Brian Cashman and Hal Steinbrenner demanding for some real talent that can transform this team and help us win.

So, there's your first pick up. It's not flashy at all but if the Yankees can develop him more than at least we can stick it to the Red Sox by flaunting it. I'm looking for a silver lining here and some optimism here.... this is all I've got.

--Jeana Bellezza-Ochoa

BYB Senior Managing Editor

Twitter: @nyprincessj