By making Gerrit Cole’s contract official, the New York Yankees were forced to create a 40-man spot and Chance Adams is the casualty.
On Dec. 10, the New York Yankees announced their record-breaking deal with Gerrit Cole. Fast-forward one week later, the Bronx Bombers have now made Cole’s deal official, introducing the new ace of their pitching staff.
Today, the Yankees announced they have signed RHP Gerrit Cole to a 9-year contract extending through the 2028 season with a player opt-out following the 2024 season.
To make room on the 40-man roster, RHP Chance Adams has been DFA’d.
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) December 18, 2019
In doing so, Brian Cashman needed to create an open spot for Cole on the Yankees’ 40-man roster. So, the Yankees’ general manager decided to designate Chance Adams for assignment, removing the once highly-touted prospect from their 40-man roster.
Now that Adams has been DFA’d, the 25-year-old will now be placed on waivers for any team to claim. Opposing teams will have just seven days to place a claim on Adams before he officially clears waivers.
If the right-hander does clear waivers, Cashman and his staff will be able to either outright Adams to Triple-A or just release the young hurler. Since Adams still owns a minor league option, the Yankees will likely just send him to the minors if he’s returned to them after seven days.
Ironically, Adams was one of the prospects that Cashman was hesitant to surrender for Cole back during 2017. At the time, the Yankees were attempting to acquire the three-time All-Star from the Pirates.
During negotiations, the Yankees had no interest in sending the former No. 2 top-prospect along with other assets to the Pirates in exchange for Cole. If they had, perhaps the Yankees would have advanced to the World Series at least once over the last three seasons.
While placing Adams on waivers was surely a tough move for Cashman, the once-promising arm just couldn’t pitch with consistency in each of the previous two seasons.
This past season with the Yankees, Adams made 13 appearances and recorded an 8.53 ERA, 6.53 FIP, 5.69 xFIP, 1.97 WHIP, .351 OPP AVG, 18.6% strikeout rate, 8.9% walk rate, 20.0% HR/FB rate and a -0.3 fWAR over 25.1 innings pitched.
Adams split both the 2018 and 2019 seasons between the majors and triple-A but failed to record an ERA below 4.00 at either level through both seasons. The righty is also entering his age-26 season in 2020, which means he’s running out of time to correct himself.
Even if Adams isn’t claimed through waivers after those seven days, he’s unlikely to ever dawn the pinstripes at Yankee Stadium again.
