The New York Yankees were in prime position to pick up a big win over the San Diego Padres on Monday night, but once again, their bullpen collapsed late in the game. Devin Williams’ nightmare start to his tenure with the Yankees continued, as he gave up three runs in the eighth inning, allowing the Padres to pick up a 4-3 victory. In the wake of this game, New York finally opted to make a big pitching change.
After getting picked up in a trade with the Milwaukee Brewers over the offseason, Williams, who had emerged as one of the best relief pitchers in the league, has been awful so far for the Yankees. In 14 games, Williams has an incredibly high 10.02 earned run average, as he’s allowed 13 earned runs over just 11.2 innings of work. And yet, Williams remains safe for the time being, as he was not involved in the team’s latest roster move.
Yankees Move on From Carlos Carrasco
Instead of making a move involving Williams, the Yankees opted to send veteran starting pitcher Carlos Carrasco packing. The 38-year-old righty enjoyed a tough start to the season himself, as he has a 5.91 ERA through eight appearances, six of which were starts. While Carrasco was eating innings for New York, he wasn’t particularly effective in doing so, which led to the team designating him for assignment on Tuesday.
“The Yankees designate veteran starter Carlos Carrasco for assignment, and bring up Yerry de los Santos,” Bob Nightengale of USA Today shared in a post on X.
Pitching has been an issue all season long for the Yankees, but while their bullpen’s struggles have been unexpected, their starting rotation has been a mess for a while now. Gerrit Cole’s 2025 campaign came to an end before it even started, as he underwent Tommy John surgery back during spring training. Luis Gil also suffered a high-grade lat strain back in March that has resulted in him landing on the 60-day injured list.
Things haven’t gotten much better for the Yankees since the season started. Marcus Stroman ended up on the injured list shortly after the start of the campaign, and JT Brubaker also didn’t make it out of spring training before he wound up on the injured list. That made it necessary for Carrasco to become a part of the starting rotation, but his struggles became too much for New York to handle.
Yankees, Aaron Boone Continue to Piece Together Starting Rotation
GettyManager Aaron Boone of the Yankees will need to wait for reinforcements.
With Carrasco gone, the Yankees are down a starter, and it remains to be seen how they will fill his void. Yerry De los Santos is replacing Carrasco on the major league roster, but he has yet to start a game in the majors, making him more of a relief pitcher. Long reliever Ryan Yarbrough could get bumped to the starting rotation, as he has a solid 3.72 ERA on the season.
After a crushing loss to San Diego, New York will have to rebound quickly, as they play the Padres again on Tuesday. The Yankees will send Clarke Schmidt to the mound as they attempt to get back in the win column. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. ET.
Yankees Announce Major Pitching Move After Latest Loss