Another October ended too soon in the Bronx, and the reaction after the ALDS loss to Tampa Bay came fast. Strip away the noise, though, and the Yankees’ winter blueprint is easy to see. Four of the five pitchers who worked at least 55 innings in relief are heading to free agency, including lefties Tim Hill and Ryan Yarbrough, while Jazz Chisholm Jr., Amed Rosario and Paul Goldschmidt are also departing from the infield.
Brian Cashman is going to spend - that much has never been in doubt - but smart clubs also patch some of these openings from inside the organization. The system’s headline names are already familiar: Dax Kilby is making swing changes in the Arizona Fall League, Elmer Rodríguez built a case for a bullpen spot after six big-league starts, Carlos Lagrange moved to relief at Triple-A, and Hunter Dietz has already become a notable name after going 35th overall in July. But the more interesting question might be which lesser-known prospects can help the 2027 roster.
Xavier Rivas fits that conversation. He began at Division II Indianapolis, where he punched out 128 hitters as a sophomore and picked up All-American honors, then transferred to Ole Miss before Tommy John surgery wiped out his final season.
The Yankees took him in the 16th round, and he responded with 114 strikeouts in 81 1/3 innings at Double-A this year. MLB reports view him as a competitive, deceptive lefty reliever, and in short bursts his 90-92 mph fastball could get a little extra and make the changeup even more dangerous.
With Hill and Yarbrough gone, that kind of arm matters.
Chris Veach is a different sort of bullpen bet, but the appeal is obvious. He was a two-way player at Presbyterian, hit .344 mostly as a second baseman, then transferred to South Carolina and started closing games.
He went undrafted, signed for $100,000, and now leans heavily on a changeup that he throws nearly 60% of the time. That pitch helped him post a 1.86 ERA across High-A and Double-A.
With John Schreiber a free agent and Fernando Cruz rehabbing a partially torn UCL, a right-hander whose best weapon falls off the table gives the Yankees a useful depth option. As a former pitcher, I always have a level of respect for guys who pitch backwards off of a change-up.
On the infield side, Roderick Arias is back in the picture. He signed for $4 million in 2022 and once ranked as a Baseball America top-100 prospect, but inconsistency pushed him off the radar for a while.
His season turned around after a rough start: he carried a 56 wRC+ through May, then hit .305/.377/.521 from June 3 on, reached Double-A and swiped a career-high 38 bases. With Chisholm and Rosario leaving, a 22-year-old who can handle second, short and third suddenly looks useful.
His Rule 5 eligibility means the Yankees have to make a call now.
Coby Morales brings another kind of flexibility. He went from Cypress College to Washington, then the Yankees grabbed him in the 18th round in 2023.
This season, the left-handed hitter set Somerset single-season records for games, hits and runs while launching 21 homers and stealing 21 bases, earning an Eastern League All-Star nod along the way. With Goldschmidt and Rosario gone, the corner-infield depth behind Ben Rice and Ryan McMahon is thin, and Morales has positioned himself to be part of that mix.
Garrett Martin also makes sense as a power bat worth watching. He turned down the Orioles as a 22nd-round pick out of high school, won a junior college national title at McLennan, spent a year at Oklahoma State and then broke out at Austin Peay before an injury left him undrafted.
The Yankees signed him, and he crushed 21 homers in his first 67 games at Somerset this year before another injury ended his season in July. Goldschmidt’s .966 OPS against lefties is walking out the door, and with Rice, McMahon and Cody Bellinger all batting left-handed, the system could use another right-handed thumper.
Then there’s Jackson Lovich, the long shot who still earns a mention. The 2025 16th-round pick out of Missouri became the first Yankees minor leaguer since Ruben Rivera in 1994 to hit 20-plus homers and steal 40-plus bases in a season.
He strikes out too much and has not gotten past High-A yet, but a switch-hitting shortstop with that kind of production is the sort of player an organization will move aggressively. He could also become a trade piece if the Yankees decide that’s the better path to a helpful reliever.
All six players took the scenic route to get here, whether through Division II, junior college, surgery or a season that went off the rails. With 40-man decisions due in November and bullpen prices about to rise, Cashman may already have a few pieces for the winter shopping list sitting in his own system.
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