12:32 pm: According to Joel Sherman of the New York Post, Yarbrough will receive a base salary of $2.50 through 2026, plus a $250,000 performance bonus.
9:56 AM: yankees and lefties Ryan Yarbrough The team is close to reaching agreement on a one-year major league contract, according to a report from Fanside’s Robert Murray. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports the deal is pending a physical. The exact details of the contract are unclear.
Assuming this deal goes through, it will be a very different offseason experience than Yarbrough did last year, when he lingered on the market until February before agreeing to a minor league deal with the Blue Jays. He opted out of the deal before Opening Day, which locked him into a 2025 major league contract with the Yankees. It’s been a good year for the Bronx left-hander, who posted a 4.36 ERA in 64 innings, including eight starts and 11 relief appearances.
On paper, that’s about league average (94 ERA+), and more advanced metrics are a little more complicated, but generally support the sentiment. His 5.06 FIP is well below par, but a lot of that has to do with an inflated home run rate. Yarbrough hit 13 homers in just 64 innings, albeit at a completely manageable 6.9 percent rate, which was largely in line with his career standards. Yarbrough’s stint in New York actually tied a career-high strikeout rate (20.8%) and allowed him to limit his walk rate to a respectable 7.2%. His 4.14 SIERA is right near league average, as is his 4.30 xFIP.
While the exact details of the contract are unclear, a one-year extension seems to make sense for both parties. Signing the contract early in the offseason provides a level of certainty for Yarbrough, who didn’t get that opportunity last year, while also allowing the Yankees to build some depth into their rotation that will surely prove valuable heading into 2026. Gerrit Cole Expected to recover from Tommy John surgery early next year Max Fried, Carlos Roden, Louis Gill, Will Warren and Cam Schlitlerit’s not hard to see why the team could use some extra depth.
Neither Cole nor Rodon will be ready for Opening Day; Clark Schmidt It’s unlikely to be a factor until after his own Tommy John surgery late this year. Gill appears healthy but has a lengthy injury history, making starting 30 games a tall order. With so much uncertainty surrounding the group, the addition of Yarbrough provides a stable veteran who can provide roughly average production while filling those gaps. Yarbrough has bounced between the rotation and bullpen nearly his entire career, and having him as a long relief arm could be valuable to a bullpen looking for inning help after losing games Devin Williams and Luke Weaver.
Whatever Yarbrough’s contract ends up costing, it won’t be a roadblock for the Yankees as they look to fill out the remainder of their roster. The club has a huge workload this winter as they need replacements Cody Bellinger, Trent Grisham, Paul Goldschmidtand Amed Rosario (along with Williams and Weaver) will enter free agency in addition to any other upgrades the club is interested in making to its roster. Given Schmidt’s injury, adding another starter might even be considered if the team wants to have young pitchers involved in trade talks or be patient with Cole while he’s ready to play next year.
