The Yankees announced that left-hander Tyler Matzek has been designated for assignment. That opens an active roster spot for right-hander Jonathan Loáisiga, who has been reinstated from the 15-day injured list. Their 40-man roster count drops from 39 to 38.
Matzek, 34, was selected to the big league roster a bit less than a month ago. He has since tossed 6 1/3 innings for the Yankees over seven appearances. He allowed three earned runs in that time, leading to a passable 4.26 ERA. However, he issued five walks in that span, a 14.3% rate.
That’s a fairly small sample but control has been a problem for Matzek in the past. He has an 11.7% walk rate in his big league career. His early-career stint with the Rockies was hampered by those control issues. He later revitalized his career in Atlanta but still worked around some fairly high walk totals. From 2020 to 2022, he posted a 2.92 with Atlanta despite walking 13.4% of batters faced. However, he also struck out 27.4% of opponents.
He wasn’t able to pitch much in the past two seasons. He required Tommy John surgery late in 2022, wiping out his 2023. Last year, further elbow troubles kept him on the shelf for much of it. He only got to pitch 10 innings in the big leagues.
The Yanks were able to get him on a minor league deal this winter and brought him up to the majors, but they appear to be quickly moving on. This will leave them a bit short on left-handed relief. Ryan Yarbrough has been working bulk innings, so Tim Hill as the only true southpaw reliever now that Matzek is gone.
DFA limbo can last as long as a week, though the waiver process takes 48 hours, meaning any trade possibilities would have to be explored in the next five days. Matzek’s recent track record isn’t much to go on but he at least has some past success. If he passes through waivers unclaimed, he has more than enough service time to reject an outright assignment and elect free agency.
As for Loáisiga, he’ll be looking to make a comeback from a lengthy injury absence. He had a really strong season in 2021, pitching 70 2/3 innings for the Yankees with a 2.17 ERA, 24.4% strikeout rate, 5.7% walk rate and 60.9% ground ball rate. But in 2022, he battled some shoulder troubles and posted a 4.13 ERA. In 2023, he was limited to just 17 appearances by elbow issues and eventually underwent UCL surgery early in 2024.
Though he was going to start the 2025 season on the injured list, the Yankees believed in him enough to bring him back. They signed him to a major league deal with a $5MM guarantee and a club option for next year. He’ll be a bargain if he can get back to that 2021 form. The early results have been good, as he threw seven innings on his rehab assignment with nine strikeouts and no walks, allowing just one earned run.
Photo courtesy of Vincent Carchietta, Imagn Images