ORLANDO, Fla. — Who said the Yankees weren’t making any splashes at the Winter Meetings?
For the first time since 2011, the organization made a pick in the Rule 5 draft Wednesday, selecting right-hander Cade Winquest from the Cardinals’ minor league system.
Winquest is a starter but will most likely come to spring training with a chance to win a spot in the Yankees bullpen, assistant general manager Mike Fishman said.
Teams must keep Rule 5 picks on their big league roster for a full season in order to hang onto them, so while there is no guarantee Winquest lasts all year, the Yankees are at least giving themselves another potential candidate to fill a spot in the bullpen out of camp.
The 25-year-old Winquest split 2025 between the Cardinals High-A and Double-A affiliates, posting a 3.99 ERA with 110 strikeouts in 106 innings.
“He’s got big velocity and he’s somebody we really felt has the characteristics that our pitching group is good at working with,” Fishman said. “Get him with our pitching department, make a few tweaks and hopefully somebody that can help us.”
Fishman said they had targeted Winquest in the 2022 draft, but the Cardinals selected him 27 picks after the Yankees took Cam Schlittler with their seventh-round pick.
While making a pick in the Rule 5 draft is a rarity for the Yankees, they were spared having any of their own minor leaguers picked by other teams for a change.
Cade Winquest is a starter but will most likely come to spring training with a chance to win a spot in the Yankees bullpen, according to assistant general manager Mike Fishman. Getty Images
That included Triple-A relievers Harrison Cohen and Eric Reyzelman, who will now have a chance to help the Yankees at some point this season.
The Yankees had five open spots on their 40-man roster, giving them the flexibility to take a chance on Winquest, at least at this point in the offseason.
In the Triple-A phase of the Rule 5 draft, the Yankees selected righty reliever Hansel Rincon from the Brewers and catcher Abrahan Gutierrez from the Athletics.
They also had RHP Adam Stone (Cubs), RHP Sean Hermann (Mariners) and LHP Matt Turner (Mets) taken from their system.
Aaron Boone said he expects Ben Rice to play “a lot” against lefty starters next season, something they shielded him from this year, in part because they had lefty masher Paul Goldschmidt to start at first base.
Rice, who currently projects to be the starting first baseman, hit .208 with a .752 OPS and seven home runs against lefties last season compared to .269 with a .860 OPS and 19 home runs against righties.
The Yankees were not in on Edwin Díaz before he signed a three-year, $69 million contract with the Dodgers, GM Brian Cashman said Wednesday.
The Yankees have some work to do with their bullpen, but they are high on David Bednar as their closer.
“Obviously Díaz is a hell of a pitcher,” Cashman said. “Glad he didn’t land in the American League somewhere.”
