TAMPA, Fla (AP) — Ryan Yarbrough agreed to a $2 million, one-year contract with the New York Yankees on Monday, a day after he was released from a minor league deal with the Toronto Blue Jays.
A 33-year-old left-hander with a slight sidearm delivery, Yarbrough can earn an additional $250,000 in performance bonuses for innings.
“There were other teams, but this was by far the team I was most interested in,” he was quoted as saying by The Athletic. “I’ve heard a lot from the pitching side (about) what they’ve been able to do with guys. That was exciting and intriguing to me.”
Yarbrough is 53-40 with a 4.21 ERA in 68 starts and 128 relief appearances over seven seasons with Tampa Bay (2018-22), Kansas City (2023), the Dodgers (2023-24), who acquired him on July 30 in the trade that sent outfielder Kevin Kiermaier to Los Angeles. He was 5-2 with a 3.19 ERA in 44 relief appearances last season.
Yarbrough throws a sinker (28.7% of his pitches last season), curveball (27.5%), four-seam fastball that averaged 86.7 mph (18.4%), changeup (15.5%) and cutter (9.9%).
His four-seam fastball velocity was the slowest in the major leagues among 138 pitchers who threw 1,500 or more pitches, 1 mph slower than Kyle Hendricks, who was 137th.
Yarbrough agreed to a minor league deal with Toronto on Feb. 21 and had a 4.05 ERA in 6 2/3 innings over four spring training appearances, striking out eight and walking one.
AL Rookie of the Year Luis Gil, a right-hander sidelined by a strained right lat muscle, was placed on the 60-day injured list.
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