Baseball Chat

[domainmaster]

Never will understand how "minor league options" are more important than what the player is now contributing to the team?

Who would you rather see in a high leverage situation Michael Tonkin (5.15 ERA in his last 15 games) or Ron Marinaccio (1.42 ERA in his last 15 games)?

On Thursday night, the Yankees optioned the red-hot Ron Marinaccio back down to Triple-A solely because he had options remaining, which saved Michael Tonkin's spot on the roster for the time being.

Yes, there's some validity to this. The Yankees are ailing on the pitching front and need to preserve as many innings as possible. If they went with Tonkin this time around, he would've had to be designated for assignment. If/when Tommy Kahnle returns, that'll have to happen anyway.

But is preserving someone like Tonkin worth halting Marinaccio's progress as he rebounds from an awful 2023 season? The work Marinaccio has done so far has been incredible, considering where he was just a few months ago.

The right-hander owns a 1.42 ERA and 0.79 WHIP with 10 strikeouts across 12 2/3 innings of work after finishing 2023 with an 8.80 ERA and 1.96 WHIP across his final 15 1/3 innings at Triple-A.

https://yanksgoyard.com/posts/yankees-make-brutal-roster-move-could-hurt-key-reliever-ron-marinaccio-development-01hxh9jnhwf0