The Yankees made a pair of roster moves on Sunday, signing utility man Marwin Gonzalez to a minor-league deal with a spring training invite and claiming LHP Yoan Aybar off waivers from the Colorado Rockies.
Gonzalez, 33, spent 2021 with the Red Sox and Astros, hitting a combined .199 with five homers and 28 RBI in 91 games. He has a career .256/.313/.404 slash line with 101 homers, 397 RBI, and 247 walks in 10 seasons with Houston, Minnesota, and Boston, and has played all seven positions around the diamond.
Per Joel Sherman of the New York Post, Gonzalez will make $1.15 million if he makes it to MLB, a very real possibility given his versatility. The Yankees have five infielders, four outfielders, and two catchers accounted for out of their 13 position-player spots, with the final two bench spots up for grabs.
Aybar, 24, has posted a 5.06 ERA in 110 relief appearances over three seasons with the Red Sox (2018-19) and Rockies (2021). He spent 2021 at Double-A Hartford, going 2-6 with a 6.22 ERA and 53 strikeouts in 46 1/3 innings over a Double-A leading 49 outings.
Originally an international free agent signing by the Red Sox in July 2013, Aybar was an outfielder until 2017. He posted a .241 average in 351 games in the Red Sox system, but only reached the now-defunct short-season Class-A level before converting to the mound.
Aybar split 2019 between Boston’s High-A and Low-A affiliates as a pitcher and was added to the 40-man roster that winter to prevent minor-league free agency, and he spent 2020 at Boston’s alternate site before earning a call-up (but not making an appearance) in the final weekend of the regular season.
The lefty was dealt to Colorado in December 2020, and designated for assignment by the Rockies on March 18 when the team officially signed Kris Bryant.
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