Add The New York Post on Google The Yankees have lost another key arm in a bullpen that does not have many.
Fernando Cruz was moved to the injured list Wednesday with what the club called “right elbow discomfort” after his latest blowup that helped lead to a loss on Tuesday. The severity of the injury was not immediately publicly known.
Among the roster shuffling that followed was signing veteran Michael Fulmer to a major league deal and immediately activating the righty.
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The 33-year-old Fulmer, who was the 2016 Rookie of the Year and a 2017 All-Star with the Tigers, has been released by the Giants and Angels this season and owned a combined 2.93 ERA in 43 Triple-A innings.
Cruz, who has generally been so good for the Yankees in his two years, had allowed at least one earned run in seven of his past 16 games, a span that dates to mid-July during which he owns a 5.93 ERA.
On Tuesday, he walked a batter and then served up a two-run home run to Jeremy Peña in the fifth inning.
This is the kind of regression and injury that Brian Cashman & Co. hoped to avoid when they did not add (and actually subtracted) from the bullpen at the trade deadline.
The Yankees place Fernando Cruz on the IL. Charles Wenzelberg / New York Post David Bednar, Paul Blackburn and Brent Headrick have been a remarkable trio, but there are workload concerns for each and little reliable help behind them.
There are several possible and eventual reinforcements but none is a sure-thing.
The Yankees would love to see how Ryan Weathers’ stuff plays out of the bullpen, but the lefty is on the IL and amid a no-throw period with a flexor strain His return is not guaranteed.
Clarke Schmidt returned to mound in The Bronx on Tuesday, throwing a live batting practice that could lead to a rehab assignment, but the righty is coming off Tommy John surgery and more used to starting.
The Yankees signed Michael Fulmer. Getty Images Luis Gil has performed well out of the bullpen with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, but he has not been reliable at the major league level (and has been a starter in the past).
Additional roster moves Wednesday included optioning Bradley Hanner, officially recalling Elmer Rodriguez and moving Kervin Castro to the 60-day injured list.
