Prior to the 2025 season, the New York Yankees were attempting to build a formidable bench, which was obviously a challenge of sorts because that has not been Brian Cashman’s strong suit for quite some time. Every year it’s just a “collection of random guys who fill out the roster.”
Though the front office figured it out at the trade deadline with some masterful acquisitions, things weren’t looking so great in April. For example, former Red Sox utility man Pablo Reyes joined New York on a minor league contract in November of 2024 and ended up making the Opening Day roster because … yeah, things really weren’t great.
Reyes lasted 24 games in New York and registered a -0.5 WAR, hitting .194 with a .468 OPS in limited action. He was designated for assignment in mid-June to make room for Giancarlo Stanton, who finally returned from his elbow injuries.
The Mets then picked up Reyes because they cannot get enough of former Yankees players, and he lived at Triple-A Syracuse for the rest of the year, playing in 44 games. He put up solid numbers, hitting .289 with an .869 OPS.
That was apparently enough to land him another job this offseason, as the San Diego Padres, another well-known hub for former Yankees, signed Reyes to a minor league contract this weekend.
The Pads are losing quite a bit of depth, as Luis Arraez, Elias Diaz, Ryan O’Hearn, Jose Iglesias and Tyler Wade are all free agents this offseason. Those names vary from starters to bench depth to Triple-A depth, and Reyes falls in between the latter two.
Though his random small sample sizes with the Red Sox are the only evidence of his big league productivity, he’s a solid defender with the ability to play every infield position (except catcher) as well as the corner outfield spots. The Yankees had little use for him, and we would venture to say Aaron Boone didn’t exactly deploy him in a shrewd manner, but the 32-year-old probably has a couple of years of relevancy remaining if he can continue to hold his own at Triple-A.
Though Reyes was nothing more than a placeholder in New York, some diehard fans certainly remember his wild baserunning heroics in a series sweep over the Royals right before he was DFA’d. Cheers to that, but hopefully in 2026 we’re talking about some combination of Oswaldo Cabrera, Amed Rosario, Jose Caballero and Jasson Dominguez/Spencer Jones garnering most of the meaningful reps off the Yankees’ bench.
