The Yankees are set to welcome back another familiar face from their 2025 roster.
While fans eagerly anticipate new acquisitions aside from the Rule 5 Draft and await Cody Bellinger’s decision, a source disclosed to the Daily News late Saturday night that the Yankees have reached a one-year agreement with Paul Blackburn. Although the deal is not yet finalized, it will ensure the right-handed pitcher earns $2 million.
Blackburn also has the potential to earn an additional $100,000 for pitching 80, 90, 100, 110, and 120 innings.
Jon Heyman of the New York Post was the first to break the news of Blackburn’s contract.
At 32, Blackburn didn’t have the most impressive season in 2025, posting a 6.23 ERA across 39 innings with both the Mets and Yankees. His time with the Mets was marred by injuries, including knee inflammation and a shoulder impingement, which led to his release in August. After joining the Yankees, he managed a 5.28 ERA over 15.1 innings.
Despite a rough start with the Yankees, where he allowed seven runs in his debut, Blackburn finished the regular season on a high note, boasting a 1.50 ERA over his last 12 innings. This performance earned him a spot on the Yankees’ postseason roster, although he surrendered four earned runs in 1.1 innings during Game 1 of the ALDS.
Blackburn’s small sample of pre-playoff, low-leverage success coincided with the Yankees tweaking his arsenal. He drastically increased the usage of his sinker and cutter and limited his sweeper, among other changes, after arriving in the Bronx, and he also improved his strikeout, walk and groundball rates.
That left the Yankees seeing some upside, much like they did with Luke Weaver at the end of the 2023 season. Weaver, previously a journeyman starter, then signed a similar deal to Blackburn’s and reinvented himself as a solid reliever with the Yankees. He just parlayed that into a two-year, $22 million deal with the Mets.
Like Weaver, Blackburn spent a good chunk of his career starting before he became a Yankee. While he figures to impact their bullpen first and foremost, he theoretically adds some rotation depth to a team that has a lot of starters but a lot of questions and concerns among them.
At the very least, Blackburn can provide length in a pen that still needs established, high-leverage help.
A nine-year pro, the former Athletic has a 4.97 ERA over 467.1 innings pitched.
Blackburn is the latest 2025 Yankee to return to the club, as he joins Trent Grisham, Ryan Yarbrough and Amed Rosario.
