The Yankees are not stopping at one new reliever.
After acquiring David Bednar from the Pirates, the Yankees added another righty, Jake Bird, from the Rockies.
Bird, who is under team control through 2028, cost the Yankees a pair of prospects: infielder Roc Riggio and left-hander Ben Shields.
The 29-year-old Bird has a 4.73 ERA with 62 strikeouts in 53 1/3 innings this season, though he had been even better before enduring a rocky July.
He had a 2.63 ERA through his first 37 appearances before giving up 14 earned runs in his last eight games (spanning 5 1/3 innings), which did a number on his ERA.
But Bird has solid underlying metrics, including a 26.3 percent strikeout rate (77th percentile), 88.2 mph average exit velocity (77th percentile) and 46.6 percent ground-ball rate (70th percentile).
Bird joins a unit that now includes Bednar, Devin Williams, Luke Weaver, lefty Tim Hill and Jonathan Loáisiga, among others.
The Yankees are also banking on getting Mark Leiter Jr. back from the injured list as early as next week with Fernando Cruz potentially joining by late August.
