Jon Niese to Yankees: Latest Contract Details, Comments, Reaction

After posting the worst full season of his career in 2016, Jon Niese will look to rebound with the New York Yankees.  

The veteran lefty agreed to a minor league contract with the Yankees, as first reported by Joel Sherman of the New York Post. Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports and Chris Cotillo of SB Nation confirmed the deal.

Sherman also reported the Yankees will bring Niese into their major league spring training camp with the potential to be used as a starter or reliever.

Niese split the 2016 season with the Pittsburgh Pirates and New York Mets, going 8-7 with a 5.50 ERA and 1.59 WHIP.

Sent to Pittsburgh from the New York Mets as part of the package that made Neil Walker a Met, Niese never clicked with the Pirates. He struggled before being jettisoned from the rotation and then was sent back to the Mets for Antonio Bastardo.

"In hindsight, maybe the two fringe prospects and trying to figure out where to reallocate the money might have been a better return [for Walker]," Pirates general manager Neil Huntington said on 93.7 The Fan’s morning show in a surprising public criticism. "That's where the results take us."

Things did not get any better when Niese returned. He made two starts and pitched in six games for the Mets, posting an 11.45 ERA before missing the final month-plus after undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery.

The Yankees will be hoping that surgery can help rebound Niese to his pre-2016 form, where he was a solid-but-unspectacular rotational cog. From 2010 to 2015, Niese posted at least 24 starts and had an ERA that hovered between 3.40 and 4.40. If he can come back to that form, the Yankees will have found a good fifth starter and depth option for a low price.