Yankees September call-ups: New York calls up eight players

The Yankees have called up eight players as September call-ups, bringing up Dustin Ackley, Andrew Bailey, Caleb Cotham, Rico Noel, James Pazos, Jose Pirela, Rob Refsnyder, and Austin Romine. Most of these players have already been up this year and are on the 40-man roster already, but a few–Bailey, Noel, Pazos, Romine–need to be added to the roster before they can play in the big leagues.

Ackley isn't as much of a call-up as he is really just an activation from the disabled list. He will offer the Yankees some much needed depth in the outfield and the infield. He could end up being that backup first baseman that people have been worrying about since Mark Teixeira hurt his leg. The other outfielder called up was Rico Noel, who the Yankees will likely employ as a designated pinch runner. He doesn't offer much with the bat, so his 23 stolen bases on the year could end up being useful.

The bullpen has been bolstered by the additions of Caleb Cotham, James Pazos, and Andrew Bailey. We've seen Cotham before and we likely have nothing to look forward to with him, but Bailey could offer the Yankees another shutdown middle reliever after years as a closer with Oakland and Boston. Pazos is a left-hander who could help give Justin Wilson and Chasen Shreve a break when it comes to match ups.

As for position players, New York brought up Rob Refsnyder, who will (hopefully) get some solid playing time in order to prove that he is worth a roster spot. They also called up Jose Pirela to offer depth at second base and possibly the outfield, and also brought up Austin Romine.

The Yankees' 40-man roster stood at 39 on the first day of September, so they need to clear three spots to fit Bailey, Noel, Pazos, and Romine. Potential moves include designating Cole Figueroa and Chris Martin for assignment and placing Jacob Lindgren on the 60-day disabled list since it's unlikely he will return from elbow surgery in 2015. New York will likely call up Nick Rumbelow and Nick Goody as well once they have served the minimum amount of days in the minors after being optioned. Upon plying for the Yankees, Noel and Pazos will make their major league debuts.

Noticeable omissions include Slade Heathcott, who has battled a quad injury and only produced a .469 OPS in 83 plate appearances since returning from the disabled list, and Aaron Judge, who has hit a meager .762 OPS since being called up to Triple-A Scranton this year. Slade could always find his way back up at some point, but Judge won't be up for the Yankees this year. This also puts to bed the idea of calling up Jorge Mateo just to run the bases.

Update

The roster moves to make room for th September call-ups on the 40-man roster have been announced:

The Yankees announced some official roster moves: pic.twitter.com/kBrzxoRJ7u

— Kenny Ducey (@KennyDucey) September 1, 2015

So Figueroa and the beleaguered former top prospect Tyler Austin received the ax while young Domingo German enjoys five weeks of 60-day DL service time. The Yankees can obviously afford that; it was just a little unusual for them to start his service clock while he is hurt and far away from the majors. There was not much wiggle room on the 40-man roster though, and they seemingly did not want to lose the reliever Martin just yet. One has to wonder if this is the end of Austin's Yankees career, but there is still certainly the possibility that he gets re-signed to a minor league deal as Heathcott was last off-season after being DFA'd.