According to Jon Heyman of the New York Post, the New York Yankees have re-signed right-handed reliever Paul Blackburn to a one-year deal worth $2 million. The move comes amid a quiet December thus far for New York, with their only other moves being minor league transactions. The Yankees picked up Blackburn last season after he was DFA’d by the New York Mets in August. The 32-year-old tossed 15 1/3 innings in the Bronx last season to an ERA of 5.28. If Blackburn meets certain incentives for innings pitched, the deal can go up to $2.5 million.
Report: Yankees Re-Sign Paul Blackburn
Blackburn joins Ryan Yarbrough as the only other free agent member of last year’s bullpen that the Yankees are bringing back for next season. Both Devin Williams and Luke Weaver, both key members of last year’s pitching staff, left the Yankees for Queens to join the Mets. Now, the Yankees must pivot and find another set of relief arms to fill their roles; perhaps they think Blackburn can be a “replacement” for either of these two pitchers, but with a mindset like this, the Yankees will soon find themselves with one of the worst bullpens in the entire American League.
Blackburn deal: $2M guaranteed plus 100k for each of 80, 90, 100, 110, 120 IP. $2.5M possible https://t.co/9pXPXKX1Pl
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) December 21, 2025
On The Blackburner
Blackburn, who has spent the majority of his major league career with the Athletics, has a career ERA of 4.97 across 467 1/3 innings with the A’s, Mets, and Yankees. Selected as an All-Star in 2022, Blackburn has struggled to find his groove in recent years. He’s had just one season with an ERA under 4.00, which was his rookie year back in 2017. The Yankees should, at the most, expect 50-70 innings out of Blackburn, so they’re definitely going to need more reinforcements in the bullpen.
Unfortunately, there are not many big names still available in the free agent pool of relievers. Edwin Díaz, Williams, Ryan Helsley, Robert Suarez, and Raisel Iglesias are all off the table. There are just a handful of pitchers remaining on the market, including Kirby Yates, Pete Fairbanks, Sean Newcomb, Jakob Junis, and Danny Coulombe. Clearly, the Yankees’ strategy is not to bulk up the bullpen through external means, but rather to run it back with the guys they already have.
“Built To Win”
Jeff Passan of ESPN reports that the Yankees’ front office “likes the team that they have right now and think they can win the American League East with it.” Of course, if this is true, then there won’t be many more big moves and/or acquisitions for New York throughout the rest of the offseason. If New York’s front office was truly committed to winning, they would have no hesitation in doing what the (back-to-back champion) Los Angeles Dodgers are doing, which is bulking up the squad they already have. If the Yankees think they can win the division with a worse version of a team that couldn’t even win last year’s division title, then they have an unpleasant surprise waiting for them once springtime rolls around.
Main Photo Credit: John Jones-Imagn Images
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