New York Yankees Designate Chase Wright for Assignment

In order to make room for Andy Pettitte on the Yankees 40-man roster, thee team today designated pitcher Chase Wright for assignment.

Fans unfamiliar with minor leaguers might remember Wright from his brief stint with the club early in 2007. He pitched in an emergency when Carl Pavano and Mike Mussina went on the DL.

In his second game, against the Red Sox, Wright wound up losing after he surrendered four consecutive home runs.

Wright is a 26-year-old left-handed pitcher. Last year in the minor league, he had an 8-2 record with a 2.96 ERA in 941 innings at Double-A and a 2-1 record with a 2.41 ERA in 34.1 innings at Triple-A.

It is that reason why I’m a little surprised that the Yankees chose him as the odd man out. I thought for sure the Yankees were going to say goodbye to Dan Giese or Steven Jackson. More realistically, I thought they would wait to make the Pettitte signing official while they tried to trade Juan Miranda.

Miranda has a lot more potential than Giese, Jackson, or Wright, but he’s a first baseman and not particularly strong defensively. He’s also blocked for the next eight years by Mark Teixeira, so there is little chance he will ever be a Yankee.

Wright will almost definitely be picked up by another team. After all, he is a lefty, and if you’re a lefty and breathing you can find a job somewhere. Most likely, he will get picked up by a National League team like the Mets, Nationals, or  Pirates. Basically, any team that has a fifth spot on their rotation open could take a chance on him.

The Yankees do have 10 days to trade him, so it’s not a foregone conclusion that they could get something back for him. A team would have to really want him to not just wait 10 days to just claim him. Otherwise, the Yankees could get a low-ceiling minor leaguer or maybe a decent low-level prospect.