A perennial contender with some of the biggest names in the sport, several players known for their time elsewhere have made their way through the Yankee Stadium clubhouse doors within the past decade.
In my 30 years of life, there haven’t been all that many constants in all of professional sports, let alone baseball on its own.
Just about every franchise in North American professional sports has seen its share of ups and downs over the course of the past three decades, ebbing and flowing between rebuilding and contention as fans cling on to memories of whenever their team’s most recent championship was.
While this is true for just about every team in pro sports, it certainly does not apply to the New York Yankees.
Winners of 27 World Series titles, the early years of my life coincided with the unbelievable prime of the turn of the century Yankees, who won four World Series championships over the span of just five years, with six AL pennants in eight years from 1996-2003.
Although the Bronx Bombers have been without a championship since 2009, the Yankees have never truly fallen out of contention. New York has not faced a losing season since posting a 76-86 record in 1992, a whole four years before my birth – with an 82-80 mark in 2023 serving as the worst record of a Yankees team since the 1994-95 strike.
Therefore, it shouldn’t be too much of a surprise that the Yankees not only always boast a cast of household names, but also serve as a common rental destination for impending free agents, with New York known to trade prospect capital in search of a late-season boost.
This has created quite the cast of interesting, overlooked names over the years, players that one likely would never associate with the Yankees but nonetheless, had a cup of coffee with the big league team at some point in the past 10 years.
Here’s a look at five players you probably forgot donned the pinstripes in relatively recent times:
1. Lance Lynn, SP (2018, 11 regular season games, 2 playoff games)
Known for years as a solid component to an enduring St. Louis Cardinals rotation, Lynn left the 314 ahead of the 2018 season and signed as a free agent with the Minnesota Twins, a tenure that ultimately would not work out well for the right-hander.
After an underwhelming 20 starts in which Lynn posted an ERA north of 5, the veteran was dealt to the Yankees at the trade deadline in exchange for minor leaguer Luis Rijo and Tyler Austin in what was more of an under-the-radar acquisition.
Lynn’s numbers improved a little bit once arriving in the Bronx, making nine starts across 11 appearances with a 4.14 ERA in 54.1 innings, recording 61 strikeouts against just 14 walks.
Unfortunately for Lynn and the Yankees, that success didn’t fully translate into October, with Lynn allowing three earned runs and two walks in 2.1 innings pitched across two postseason appearances as the Yankees fell to the archrival Boston Red Sox three games to one in the ALDS.
In addition to the three aforementioned teams, Lynn also spent big-league time with the Texas Rangers, Chicago White Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers. Now 39, Lynn pitched his final MLB season with the Cardinals in 2024.
2. Kendrys Morales, DH (2019, 19 games)
Previously one of the league’s feared sluggers who had put up monster seasons in the past for the Los Angeles Angels and Kansas City Royals, Morales ended up finishing his career as an underwhelming trade acquisition for the Yankees.
Four years removed from winning a championship with the Royals, Morales began his age-36 season with the Oakland Athletics, where he struggled to a lowly 59 OPS+ with three extra-base hits across 34 games in the green and gold.
Moving to cut bait, the A’s traded Morales to the Yankees in exchange for cash or a player to be named later in mid-May of 2019, though this reclamation project did not ultimately pay dividends for New York.
The switch-hitting veteran ended up playing in just 19 games for the Yankees, registering 11 hits in 62 at-bats with a home run and a double. Despite a brutal 55 OPS+, Morales did provide one clear bright spot to his statistical output, posting 12 walks against just six strikeouts to amass a reasonable .320 on-base percentage.
Regardless, the limited output was not enough for a World Series-hopeful Yankees team, who released Morales on July 2, 2019 – several weeks after his final MLB appearance on June 11 of that year.
In addition to the Angels, Royals, A’s and Yankees, Morales also suited up for the Seattle Mariners, Minnesota Twins and Toronto Blue Jays over the course of his 13-season MLB career.
3. Jordy Mercer, IF (2020, 6 games)
Mostly known by dedicated baseball fans as the longtime shortstop of the 2010’s Pittsburgh Pirates, Mercer added a few other stops towards the end of his career that included a pit stop in the Bronx.
Beginning the pandemic-shortened season with the Detroit Tigers, with whom he spent all of the 2019 season with, Mercer was released by the team on Aug. 6 after making it in to just three games.
The veteran went on to sign with the Yankees just 11 days later, ultimately going on to don the pinstripes for just six games before being released by the team at season’s end.
Across his six appearances with New York, the ninth-year infielder was just 2-for-11 with a run and two walks – amounting to a 42 OPS+ over the extremely limited sample size. Blocked by Gleyber Torres, Tyler Wade and Thairo Estrada at the position, Mercer did not suit up in the postseason for the Yankees – who ultimately fell in a five-game ALDS to the Tampa Bay Rays.
Mercer’s career didn’t extend much further beyond 2020, with the veteran making his way into 46 games with the Washington Nationals in 2021 before calling it a career after the conclusion of the season.
4. Jay Bruce, RF/1B (2021, 10 games)
A longtime slugger for the Cincinnati Reds who was one of the game’s most formidable power hitters during his prime, Bruce ultimately finished his playing career with the Yankees after an underwhelming start to the 2021 season.
Far removed from his days of 30+ HRs and top-10 MVP finishes, Bruce spent much of the latter part of his career as a journeyman who could provide some pop off the bench, sprinkling in an effective 36 homer, 101 RBI campaign in 2017 split between the New York Mets and the then-Cleveland Indians.
After a lackluster campaign during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season with the Philadelphia Phillies, Bruce signed with the Yankees just before spring training in 2021 – but had a change of heart not long after the regular season began.
Following a 10-game stint that saw Bruce go 4-for-34 with a double and a home run, the 34-year-old veteran voluntarily retired from the sport on April 18 of that year, perhaps making the decision to leave the game for himself before it was likely made for him.
In addition to stints with the aforementioned teams, Bruce also had a brief stint with the Seattle Mariners in 2019, retiring as a 19.7 career WAR player with 1,220 of his 1,650 career games coming with the Reds.
5. JP Sears, SP (2022, 7 games, 2 starts)
Now known primarily as the pitcher who joined Mason Miller in the blockbuster trade that sent both pitchers from the A’s to the San Diego Padres, JP Sears actually began his career outside of the Athletics organization – having been a longtime Yankees farmhand.
Originally drafted by the Seattle Mariners in 2017, Sears was dealt to the Yankees in November of the same year alongside Juan Then in a trade for right-handed pitcher Nick Rumbelow. Sears then made his way up the ranks through the Yankees farm system through the next several years, eventually getting the call to The Show in April 2022.
Sears was excellent during his brief time in the Bronx, amassing a 3-0 record with a 2.05 ERA across seven appearances that included two starts. The southpaw managed five walks and 15 strikeouts in 22 innings of work, only allowing one home run during that timespan.
Sears’ impressive start to his MLB career made him a valuable trade chip at the 2022 trade deadline, as the lefty was packaged alongside Luis Medina, Ken Waldichuk and minor-leaguer Cooper Bowman in a massive trade with the then-Oakland Athletics that sent both Frankie Montas and Lou Trivino back to New York.
After parts of four seasons with the A’s, Sears was sent alongside Mason Miller to the Padres at last year’s trade deadline – with the A’s receiving a prospect-laden package in return that included shortstop Leo de Vries, who is currently rated as the league’s second-best prospect.
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