MLB
New York Yankees acquire Cody Morris from the Cleveland Guardians
The New York ninth acquired the right-handed pitcher in exchange for outfielder Estevan Florial, who has played sporadically in the Majors since 2020.
The New York Yankees emptied their bullpen to be able to accommodate new arrivals Juan Soto and the Alex Verdugo in their attempt to improve the quality of the outfield.
Now, the management of the ‘Manhattan Mules’ has agreed to a trade with the Cleveland Guardians to hire reliever Cody Morris in exchange for giving them the rights to patrolman Estevan Florial. The team announced the trade on its official social media networks.
Morris, 27, took the mound for six games in the 2023 Major League Baseball campaign. The right-handed pitcher completed eight innings, in which he faced 38 batters and struck out nine of them, and allowed six runs for a 6.75 ERA.
For his part, Florial has played sporadically in the Major Leagues since 2020 with long forays into the Yankees’ branches. The Dominican has seen action in 48 games spread over four seasons with the Bronx Bombers between 2020 and 2023. Florial has a batting average of .209 and has managed to connect 24 hits, with a home run, in 115 at bats.
The Yankees bullpen for the 2024 MLB season
The Yankees’ bullpen will be completely different from last year because, between the Soto and Verdugo trades, they offloaded seven pitchers. Those who left Yankee Stadium included Michael King, Jhony Brito, Randy Vasquez, Drew Thorpe, Richard Fitts, Greg Weissert and Nicholas Judice.
For now, the starting rotation is limited to four players: Gerrit Cole, Carlos Rodón, Nestor Cortés and Clarke Schmidt. The fifth position is to be defined between Yoendrys Gómez, Clayton Beeter and Luis Gil.
The only certainty in the bullpen is that Clay Holmes will continue as the closer. The rest is made up of Jonathan Loáisiga, Tommy Kahnle, Ian Hamilton, Scott Effross, Víctor González, Nick Ramirez, Ron Marinnaccio, Matt Krook and new recruit, Morris.