The Yankees are bringing back another swingman.
In a move that offers low-cost depth and flexibility, but will hardly satisfy the fan base’s quench for a big move, the Yankees agreed to re-sign Paul Blackburn on a one-year, $2 million contract on Saturday night, noti.group’s Jon Heyman confirmed.
Blackburn’s deal comes with a possible $500,000 in incentives, with the right-hander eligible to earn $100,000 each if he hits 80, 90, 100, 110 and 120 innings.
That is of note because Blackburn offers the ability to start — which the Yankees might need early in the season as they await the returns of Carlos Rodón and Gerrit Cole — but also can provide innings out of the bullpen, as he did for the Yankees late last season after signing with them in August and eventually pitching well enough to make the roster for the AL wild-card series and ALDS.
In that regard, the 32-year-old Blackburn is similar to lefty Ryan Yarbrough, who re-signed for $2.5 million earlier this offseason.
It continues a trend of the Yankees running it back with players who finished last season with them, which includes Trent Grisham accepting the $22.025 million qualifying offer, picking up Tim Hill’s $3 million club option and re-signing Amed Rosario for $2.5 million.
Each of the moves make sense in their own right, though the collection of them has left fans underwhelmed as they await bigger moves, like re-signing Cody Bellinger or landing Japanese right-hander Tatsuya Imai.
As the Yankees currently stand, they are projected to begin 2026 with a rotation of Max Fried, Cam Schlittler, Luis Gil, Will Warren and Yarbrough, though they likely will build up Blackburn as a starter in camp to give them another option.
The Yankees originally picked up Blackburn last August after the Mets designated him for assignment.
The veteran got beat up in his first outing, which was 3 ¹/₃ innings of mop-up duty, but in his next seven appearances to end the season — five of them lasting two innings apiece — Blackburn posted a 1.50 ERA with 14 strikeouts in 12 innings.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
