The New York Yankees acquired Jake Bird at the 2025 trade deadline to shore up their bullpen, and even though he didn’t do that last year he could be in line to be a weapon out of relief in 2026.
The right-handed reliever was named the Yankees’ dark-horse Opening Day roster candidate by MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch.
The Yankees traded for Bird from the Colorado Rockies for minor leaguers Roc Riggio and Ben Shields on July 31. He went 0-1 with a 27.00 ERA in just three appearances before spending the rest of the season in Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes Barre.
Jake Bird Could be a Weapon for the Yankees in 2026
Bird was one of three pitchers the Yankees acquired to overhaul their bullpen last year, along with Camilo Doval and David Bednar, yet he was easily the least effective of the bunch.
But after getting sent back to Triple-A, and struggling there (6.32 ERA in 15 games at Scranton/Wilkes Barre in 2025) Bird seems different this season, according to Hoch.
“Bird allowed seven runs (six earned) in two innings after being acquired from the Rockies last July, then spent the rest of the year in Triple-A,” Hoch wrote. “That wasn’t the best first impression, but the 30-year-old looks different early in camp, crediting a full offseason working with the Yankees’ pitching department.”
The Yankees have had a good track record of developing relief pitchers, and Bird has all the stuff to generate swings and misses in the majors. He had 66 strikeouts in 55 1/3 innings in 2025 and boasts a modest 2.16 career strikeout-to-walk rate despite walking about four per nine innings in his four-year major league career.
“If he continues to generate ground balls and whiffs, Bird could be a nice bullpen find,” Hoch wrote.
The Yankees Likely Will Need Jake Bird This Year
The Yankees acquired Bird to take advantage of his high strikeout rate but were fortunate he still had minor-league options so they could send him to Triple-A after he struggled.
He walked two and gave up two home runs in just two innings and was a major player in two of the team’s worst losses last year. He served up a grand slam to Kyle Stowers in the 13-12 defeat to the Miami Marlins on Aug. 1 and took the loss after giving up Josh Jung’s game-ending, three-run homer in an 8-5 loss in 10 innings to the Texas Rangers on Aug. 5.
But Bird just turned 30 in December, and was in his fourth major league season last year, and most players with that pedigree would have to remain in the majors or be clear waivers in order to be optioned to the minors.
This offseason the Yankees lost five relief pitchers — Devin Williams, Luke Weaver, Mark Leiter Jr., Ian Hamilton and Jonathan Loaisiga — who made at least 30 appearances in relief last season. Replacing those innings is going to be integral, and the Yankees can ill afford to keep Bird in the minors again, even if he does have minor-league options again.
Bednar and Doval likely have the the team’s top-two high-leverage roles locked up for now, and Fernando Cruz and Tim Hill both likely will remain high-leverage relievers this year.
But there are at least three-to-four more relief spots that need to be filled. Bird likely needs to have one of those spots, and he will put the Yankees in a bind if he isn’t good in the majors again.
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