With the New York Yankees traveling to Tampa Bay to take on the Rays, they activated relief pitcher Justin Wilson from the 10-day injured list. Activating the lefty will provide the Yankees a bit more flexibility and diversity from the bullpen, which has performed well as of late. Since the Yankees sent down Michael King earlier this week, no corresponding movies were needed for Wilson to re-join the roster.
The former Met signed with the Yankees this off-season to a two-year, $5.15 million deal with a player option 2022. At 33 years old, Wilson only pitched 19.2 innings last year, logging a 3.66 ERA. Over a larger sample size in 2019, Wilson finished with 39 innings of work, earning a 2.54 ERA. After throwing live batting practice last weekend, the Yankees were taking things slowly before activating Wilson.
The expectation is that Justin will be a regular contributor from the bullpen, especially with skipper Aaron Boone playing the statistics game utilizing his lefty arm. Since the Yankees are coming off a tough start to the season, most recently losing to the Baltimore Orioles in extra innings, it is their offense that primarily needs more consistency. The Yankees scored a season-high seven runs on two occasions, but in their losses scored no more than three, indicating a deficiency in production.
In the most recent lost Baltimore, though, the Yankees posted 13 hits and left runners in scoring position on five separate occasions, essentially giving away the win to their opponent. It seemed as if with Aaron Judge out of the lineup, things get a little bit interesting, and he’s expected to miss Friday’s contest against Tampa.