For the fourth time this season, Michael Tonkin has been designated for assignment, but this one followed a stretch of consistency. Behind 45 appearances with the Braves last year and the 65 with the Twins in 2016, this was Tonkin’s third-longest stretch of time in the majors across his career.
So it was a “tough one,” manager Aaron Boone said, but with Boone feeling as if the Yankees could be short on relievers in the present, they opted to DFA the 34-year-old reliever — who’d collected a 3.38 ERA across 39 appearances since signing in April — and brought up right-handed reliever Phil Bickford from Triple-A, signing him to a major league contract and selecting him to the active roster.
It marked the second time this season that Bickford, an ex-Met, has been with the Yankees. He threw in five games at the end of June and his ERA ballooned to 14.40, but in 34 appearances with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, he has pitched to a 3.00 ERA and picked up five saves.
Bickford was with Scranton for their road series against St. Paul, last pitching in a game Aug. 21, and he flew to join the Yankees on Sunday before they closed a three-game set against the Rockies at Yankee Stadium and traveled for a series against the Nationals.
“He’s been doing a nice job,” Boone said of Bickford, “and he’s got some length to him. Probably can give us a couple innings if we needed it. … There was a number of people in the conversation for that but right now, seemed like the right guy to take.”
That didn’t make the decision with Tonkin any easier for Boone. Tonkin’s career has been filled with different stops — from four different MLB teams to stints in Japan, the Dominican Republic and the Independent League — but after bouncing around between the Mets and Twins to start 2024, he found a consistent role in the Yankees’ bullpen.
Since the All-Star break, though, Tonkin’s ERA has spiked to 6.98 across 19 ⅓ innings. Only three of his last 12 outings ended without a run crossing the plate.
Boone will likely have to make additional bullpen decisions across the next few weeks, too, as the Yankees’ collection of relievers for October starts to take shape. Ian Hamilton (right lat strain) stuck out all three batters Saturday in his first rehab appearance with Double-A Somerset. Boone said reports on Lou Trivino (right elbow surgery recovery) and Scott Effross in the minors have been good — and that both relievers are options for the Yankees in the future, too
But the first domino has fallen in the present.
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