Michael Fulmer was at LaGuardia Airport on Tuesday night, waiting through a layover and ready to travel to Worcester to meet up with the Yankees’ Triple-A team.
He had just signed with the Yankees, who all of a sudden had holes to fill in their injury-riddled bullpen. Before he got on his connecting flight, the Yankees called him and told him to leave the airport and come join the big league team in New York, rather than head to the minors.
It’s the latest stop on what seems like a never-ending tour around the league for Fulmer — one that he’d like to now result in a more permanent home.
“Just trying to figure out what teams want,” Fulmer said before the game against the Astros on Wednesday night in The Bronx. “This will be my seventh organization in the last two years, unfortunately. I’ve been around the whole country just trying to find a place to stick.”
The Yankees placed Fernando Cruz on the injured list Wednesday with right elbow discomfort amid a few rough outings for their previously reliable reliever. It created an opening for Fulmer to immediately be activated and have a bullpen role in which he can potentially make this more than a short-term destination.
Fulmer, the 2016 Rookie of the Year and an All-Star in 2017 with the Tigers, has already been released by the Giants and Angels this season. Mets fans will remember him as a former top prospect whom the team memorably dealt to the Tigers in exchange for Yoenis Cespedes at the 2015 trade deadline. Cespedes helped carry the Mets to the World Series that year, while Fulmer turned into a solid starter for the Tigers.
“Being a visiting player, you’re playing the Yankees — everybody dreams of it, everybody dreams to play in Yankee Stadium,” Fulmer said. “It’s good to be on this side of it.”
But after undergoing his second Tommy John surgery, which forced him to miss the entire 2024 season, he has been unable to stick anywhere the past two years. He made three appearances with the Angels this year, tossing 3 ²/₃ scoreless innings. He’s recorded a 2.93 ERA across 43 innings in Triple-A this year.
“I’m excited to get him here,” manager Aaron Boone said. “Obviously, it’s a guy that’s got a lot of experience, had a lot of success in the big leagues, has been through a lot on the injury front. … He’s a guy that’s had a good season and is throwing the ball well and hopefully he can come here and grab a role. There’s opportunity there.”
That opportunity, and some promising results this year despite being released, have Fulmer staving off retirement thoughts.
“I told [my wife] I couldn’t live with myself feeling this healthy and throwing the ball this well to give up quite yet,” Fulmer said. “Hope it’s an opportunity for something in the long run.”
