When Jay Bruce announced that he was retiring from baseball over the weekend, it prompted some speculation about how the Yankees might possibly replace him with Luke Voit still on the shelf until at least mid-May. Tyler Wade was recently farmed out, and the team might have appreciated some late-game support for Gleyber Torres at shortstop, though recalling Wade would have meant essentially no reliable backup for DJ LeMahieu at first base.
There was also the possibility that they could use Bruce’s 40-man roster spot on someone new, like veteran Derek Dietrich, who competed with Bruce for his spot at spring training and was at the alternate site.