The Yankees bullpen has been one of its strengths this season, but that didn’t stop general manager Brian Cashman from shipping Matt Thornton to Washington on Tuesday after the Nationals made a waiver claim on the lefty.
Rich Hill, another southpaw, was called up from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre to take Thornton’s spot, though more changes figure to be on the way — perhaps from the minors.
That’s especially true after Hill’s ugly debut, when he hit Ezequial Carrera, the only batter he faced, and allowed slow-footed Victor Martinez to steal second in the 11th inning of the Yankees’ 4-3, 12-inning loss to the Tigers Tuesday night at the Stadium.
Cashman singled out Tyler Webb, who is at SWB, as being closest to major-league ready. Double-A Trenton’s James Pazos and this year’s first-round pick, Jacob Lindgren, who was just promoted to Trenton, are other candidates.
“We have some young left-handers who are emerging quickly that we’re excited about,” Cashman said.
Cashman also wouldn’t rule out the eventual promotion of former phenom Manny Banuelos, who is doing well as a starter at Trenton.
In the meantime, though, the Yankees have replaced a serviceable situational lefty with Hill, who has spent most of this season in the minors after appearing in 63 games with the Indians a year ago.
“I think he can get left-handers out,” Cashman said. “We’ve played all year watching our team face left-handed pitchers, some high-name [pitchers] and some no-name, and they have gotten our lefties out.”
“They don’t have the experience that a Matt Thornton does,” manager Joe Girardi said. “But David Robertson didn’t have the experience of Mariano Rivera and Dellin Betances didn’t have the experience Robertson had.”
The Yankees figure to stay with this configuration at least through Friday, when they will need to fill David Phelps’ starting spot, because the right-hander is out with right elbow tendinitis.
But in the larger picture, Cashman said the move was made to improve the team’s flexibility because it allows him to shuffle pitchers between the major and minor league roster and perhaps more importantly, saved the Yankees $4 million, because Thornton had another year remaining on his contract at $3.5 per year season.
“It’s about flexibility in 2014 and 2015,” Cashman said.
Thornton appeared in 46 games and is having a solid season after being left off the postseason roster last year in Boston. He was 0-3 with a 2.55 ERA in 24²/₃ innings.
Cashman also said he’s not done looking.
“I’m not shut down for business, whether it’s buying, whether it’s reshuffling the deck, as we’re doing today,” Cashman said. “We’ve been mixing and matching all year. That’s not going to stop. I can’t predict what’s going to happen tomorrow.”