New York Yankees: Yankees add a left hand pitcher to their arsenal

The New York Yankees never stop trying to improve their baseball team, no matter what season it is.  In this short 60 game season, they have only played one game that they won against the Washington Nationals.  It may be a coincidence, but the Yankees, according to Jon Heyman of the MLB Network, the Yankees have come to a deal with the Nationals left-hander, Fernando Abad.

The Yankees don’t have a lot of left-hand arms on the team.  At the moment, they only have Aroldis Chapman, who is on the COVID-19 IL. That leaves Zack Britton as his likely replacement and Luis Avilan as the lone lefty setup option. Tyler Lyons had been the only left-handed reliever at the Yankees’ Scranton site, so bringing Abad into the mix addresses a depth need in a rather straightforward fashion.

The 34-year-old Abad is a veteran of nine Major League seasons who carries a lifetime 3.67 ERA at the big league level. He’s pitched for six clubs, most recently the Giants in 2019, and averaged 7.6 K/9, 3.2 BB/9, and 1.14 HR/9 with a 41.5 percent ground-ball rate. He’s held lefties to a .234/.283/.378 slash and yielded a .257/.338/.412 slash to righties. Obviously, the latter isn’t particularly encouraging, but Abad’s splits aren’t quite as glaring as is the case with many traditional, pure lefty specialists.

The Yankees had some space in their 60-man player pool as it is, so they needn’t make a corresponding move once Abad’s deal becomes official. I believe they have two extra spaces. Upon the signing, the Yankees will most likely send him down to Scranton Wilkes/Barre to train with fellow lefty Tyler Lyons.

The Nationals acquired Abad from the San Francisco Giants in the offseason. Abad was let loose by the Nationals after not attending summer camp.  Abad was quarantining after a positive Covid-19 diagnosis. Now that he’s been cleared to return to action, he will take his place with the New York Yankees.

The Dominican pitcher has pitched for the Houston Astros, Oakland Athletics, Minnesota Twins, Boston Red Sox, San Francisco Giants, and, most recently, the Nationals. In 2018 he received an 80 game suspension for using Stanozolol, a performance-enhancing substance. Upon the news, he was relieved of a minor league contract from the New York Mets.