The Yankees are adding a familiar name to their bullpen just after taking a series from the Red Sox, claiming former Boston reliever John Schreiber off waivers from the Kansas City Royals.
Schreiber is heading to the Bronx as part of New York’s late-season relief overhaul. He’s been in Kansas City since Boston moved him a few years ago, and he still looks a lot like the dependable arm the Red Sox used in 2022-23.
This season, he has a 3.65 ERA in 55 appearances. The underlying numbers are rougher, though, with a 4.87 FIP that reflects a dip in his strikeout stuff and a rise in walks.
The Yankees will need to coax more out of him if they want him to help down the stretch.
For the Red Sox, the move opens up one of those weird little baseball threads that keeps getting longer every time you tug on it: the John Schreiber trade tree.
That original deal brought Boston one player back, pitching prospect David Sandlin. Sandlin piled up strikeouts and climbed through the minors over the next few years, eventually becoming one of the better depth arms in Triple-A Worcester.
He never got to make his MLB debut with the Red Sox. Instead, Boston dealt him to Chicago to convince the White Sox to take on the rest of Jordan Hicks’ contract, which was itself part of the messy Rafael Devers trade tree. Coming back to Boston in that swap was Gage Ziehl, a pitcher who was viewed as a lesser prospect than Sandlin at the time.
Ziehl’s stock has risen since then. He put together a strong Double-A season this year, posting a 4.13 FIP and a 25.7% strikeout rate. He has struggled after his August promotion to Triple-A, but he remains in the kind of next-man-up spot Sandlin once occupied.
For now, that’s where the chain stops: Ziehl in Worcester, Schreiber set to debut for the Yankees this week. But with Craig Breslow’s tendency to move pitching prospects, this might not be the last branch on this tree.
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