Yanks add to 'pen in reunion with LHP Wilson
Bryan Hoch
@BryanHochTAMPA, Fla. -- Justin Wilson is officially on board as a member of the Yankees¡¯ remodeled bullpen, with the club announcing its agreement with the left-hander during Tuesday¡¯s first full-squad workout at George M. Steinbrenner Field.
¡°I'm really excited about him,¡± said manager Aaron Boone. ¡°He's somebody that we early on in the wintertime identified as someone that could potentially impact our club. He was somebody that we were following all winter. We love his stuff, we like the makeup. He¡¯s a guy that's been here, and I think he is going to be another really good complement to what we hope is a really special bullpen.¡±
Wilson will earn $2.85 million this season, according to MLB Network insider Jon Heyman. The deal includes a $2.3 million player option for 2022; if Wilson does not exercise the option, there is a $7.15 million club option or a $1.15 million buyout. Should Wilson exercise the player option, the club holds an option on Wilson for '23 valued at the league minimum plus $500,000.
To create room on the 40-man roster for Wilson, outfielder Greg Allen was designated for assignment.
Wilson, 33, will switch boroughs to the Bronx after pitching with the Mets in each of the past two seasons. The 10th-year southpaw compiled a 2.91 ERA, 26.6 percent strikeout rate and four saves across his pair of campaigns in Queens.
Overall, Wilson owns a career 3.27 ERA and 18 saves in prior stints with the Pirates, Yankees, Tigers, Cubs and Mets.
Wilson enjoyed a solid season with the Yankees in 2015, when he sported a 3.10 ERA, 2.69 FIP and struck out 66 hitters in 61 innings. New York traded him to Detroit during that offseason's Winter Meetings in exchange for right-handers Luis Cessa and Chad Green.
Now, Wilson projects to join those two pitchers in the Yankees¡¯ 2021 bullpen, in line to serve as a third lefty option for Boone alongside Zack Britton and Aroldis Chapman.
¡°It¡¯s definitely going to be a little full-circle moment when I actually do meet him, because that¡¯s who we were traded for,¡± Green said. ¡°I¡¯m excited to get to know him. I hear great things about him from guys because we have a lot of guys in our clubhouse who have played with him.¡±
This acquisition doubles the Yankees' number of Justin Wilsons, as the club has a right-handed hurler with the same name who most recently spent time with the Staten Island Yankees and in the Gulf Coast League in 2019.