Yankees Potential Free Agent Target: Brooks Raley
Yesterday at 08:00 AM
The Bombers need to fill the left-handed vacuum in the bullpen.
It sounds crazy to say this two weeks into January but the Yankees still do not have a left-handed reliever on the 40-man roster. They upgraded one lefty starter for another, signing Max Fried before dealing Nestor Cortes away shortly thereafter, but have not replaced the departed pair of southpaw relievers in Tim Hill and Tim Mayza. They've been linked with a reunion with Hill, but the latest name to pop up in the rumor mill belongs to Brooks Raley.
2024 Statistics: Eight games, 7.0 IP, 0.00 ERA, 1.88 FIP, 3.61 xFIP, 11.6 K/9, 3.9 BB/9, 0.71 WHIP, 0.3 fWAR
2025 FanGraphs Depth Charts Projections: 29 games, 29 IP, 3.95 ERA, 4.11 FIP, 8.8 K/9, 3.5 BB/9, 1.31 WHIP, 0.1 fWAR
Previous Contract: Signed two-year, $10 million contract with $6.5 million club option for 2024 with Rays prior to 2022 season. Traded to Mets on December 7, 2022, who picked up club option for 2024.
Raley was a late bloomer in the baseball world, first a failed starter with the Cubs before spending five seasons in the KBO at the end of the last decade to mixed results. He came back stateside as a reliever but struggled to a 4.83 ERA in his first two seasons back with the Reds and Astros. However, the Rays sprinkled their devil magic on the then-34-year-old, and since the start of 2022 he has pitched to a 2.58 ERA (153 ERA+), 3.13 FIP, and 27.3-percent strikeout rate.
Unfortunately for the veteran southpaw, he had to undergo Tommy John surgery that included an internal brace procedure on May 30th, costing him the rest of the season. He is not expected to be back until the second half of 2025 at the earliest, and as we have seen some Tommy John rehabs take much longer than others. That is likely why he is targeting a two-year deal that would allow him to rehab for most if not all of 2025 with the hope of being fully healthy in 2026. Teams can maneuver and backload these types of deals such that the bulk of the salary is paid out in the second season — this would have no affect on the AAV calculation toward the luxury tax number, but still help teams in a real world dollar cash flow sense.
At his best, Raley is a tantalizing blend of elite swing-and-miss with an ability to induce weak contact. Between 2020 and 2023, Raley gave up the sixth-lowest hard-hit rate (26.1-percent) and 14th-lowest average exit velocity (84.9 mph) of any pitcher in baseball while also finishing comfortably in the top quartile of strikeout and whiff rate. He was one of 44 pitchers over that span to finish with a strikeout-minus-walk ratio in elite territory of over 20 percent and allowed just over one baserunner per inning.
The way to get both swing-and-miss and weak contact is by having pitches that move differently that hitters are used to seeing, and Raley is certainly a pitch movement darling. Back in his last full season in 2023, Raley's changeup exhibited the ninth-most downward movement vs. average and 25th-most lateral movement vs. average of any cambio in baseball. His sweeper exhibited the ninth-most lateral movement vs. average while his sinker exhibited the 22nd-most downward movement of their respective pitch types. Entering his age-37 season and likely at least a year removed from throwing his last pitch, there is no guarantee that Raley's arsenal will continue to move to this extreme degree, but it's a good starting point nonetheless.
Of course, Raley was one of the five Rays pitchers who refused to wear pride flag-themed hats and sleeve patches when the Rays hosted a pride night on June 4, 2022 to commemorate Central Florida's LGBTQ+ community. Christian Romo over at Amazin' Avenue penned a thoughtful and necessary response to that quintet's bigotry when the Mets traded for Raley prior to the 2023 season, his words perfectly aligning with my internal feeling about a prospective Raley signing. There's a chance that Raley could help the Yankees in 2026 if not 2025, but I don't know if I could cheer for him.
