It appears the Yankees have their Triple-A innings guy. The team has signed right-hander Anthony Swarzak to a minor league contract, reports Jon Heyman. The deal will pay him $750,000 at the big league level. Safe to assume Swarzak received an invitation to big league Spring Training.
Swarzak, 30, made the Indians’ Opening Day roster last year, but was sent to Triple-A after allowing nine runs (five earned) in 13.1 innings. He made six relief appearances in the minors before latching on with the Doosan Bears in Korea. Swarzak had a 5.56 ERA in 92.1 innings for Doosan last summer. He worked mostly as a starter.
In 453 career innings spread across 32 starts and 159 relief appearances, Swarzak has a 4.45 ERA (4.18 FIP) at the MLB level, mostly with the Twins. That’s broken down into a 5.87 ERA (4.81 FIP) as a starter and a 3.64 ERA (3.81 FIP) as a reliever. Swarzak a low-to-mid-90s fastball/slider guy at this point. He doesn’t throw his curveball or changeup much out of the bullpen.
There are three open bullpen spots at the moment, so I wouldn’t rule Swarzak out as a candidate for the big league roster. I think it’s more likely he’ll be the designated Triple-A innings guy though. Last year it was Kyle Davies, the year before it was Bruce Billings, and the year before that it was Chris Bootcheck. Teams always need a veteran guy to soak up some innings in Triple-A.
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