One of the more pressing issues that have been bothering the Yankees this season and that they will likely have to address at the trade deadline this summer is their inconsistent bullpen. The Yankees’ bullpen has been a revelation this season for all the wrong reasons. It's been hard for manager Aaron Boone to trust his guys to get batters out in the later innings, except for Fernando Cruz and Tim Hill. Those two relievers have been Boone’s most consistent options. Everyone else, including Ryan Yarbrough, has been on a rollercoaster ride, which is not good for a team with World Series aspirations. That being said, the Yankees are trying to find solutions to fix their bullpen woes.On Saturday morning, Jon Heyman of the New York Post reported that New York signed reliever Peter Strezelecki to a minor league deal. Heyman added that Strezelecki will head to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, which the team officially announced later that day.The signing won’t move the needle for many Yankees fans as he can’t help this team right now. But it could put more pressure on Yarbrough, who has drawn criticism from the fanbase for his troubling performances on the mound this season.Yankees’ Peter Strezelecki signing could put pressure on Ryan YarbroughThe 34-year-old Yarbrough has not been good lately on the mound, having allowed three earned runs in his last two appearances. In fact, the right-handed reliever has a 4.76 ERA in three appearances this month. This is coming off March/April, where Yarbrough had a 4.09 ERA in seven appearances.For the season, opponents are hitting only .206 off Yarbrough, with an OPS of .581 and BAbip of .250, which are solid numbers. Furthermore, the 34-year-old’s hard-hit rate (20.4%) and HR% (1.4) are down from 2025 – 34.0% hard-hit rate and 4.9 HR%.But Yarbrough’s walk percentage has jumped to 8.5% this season from 7.2% in 2025, and his strikeout percentage has dipped to 19.7% this season after being 20.8% last year with the Yankees.It also doesn’t help that Yarbrough hasn’t been good in the eighth inning (5.68 ERA/seven appearances) and sixth inning (11.57 ERA/three games) this season when called upon by Boone.If you ask most Yankees fans on a given day, they would want to see Yarbrough designated for assignment, as they already have a swing guy in the bullpen in Paul Blackburn. New York re-signed Yarbrough to a one-year, $2.5 million deal this offseason. And if New York were to do that, it could open the door for Strezelecki.Where does Strezelecki fit into the equation?The 31-year-old Strezelecki, a Queens, NY native, is not on the Yankees’ 40-man or 26-man roster. Therefore, for the right-handed reliever to be called up to the big leagues, New York would have cut ties with another arm on the 40-man roster, whether they’re in the majors or the minors.Strezelecki was most recently in the Milwaukee Brewers’ minor league system, pitching for their Triple-A team in Nashville. In 16 relief appearances, the 31-year-old pitcher posted a 4.12 ERA and allowed a ridiculous 10 runs (nine earned) in 19.2 innings. The Brewers designated Strezelecki for assignment last week (May 17). He made it through waivers unclaimed and decided to test his luck in free agency, which worked in his favor, as he ended up with the Yankees, who need more bullpen help.However, that ERA must come down with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre if he wants to get a sniff of the majors with the Yankees. Strezelecki has a 3.44 ERA with opponents hitting .232 in 77 relief appearances in the majors across three different clubs (Brewers, Diamondbacks, and Guardians).Most of his MLB work has come in low-leverage spots (53 games), with his best work being in the seventh (0.00 ERA, 10 games) and eighth innings (2.18 ERA, 20 games).That being said, it will be interesting to see how Strezelecki does with the RailRiders. If he can hit the ground running and get guys out, he could find his way to the Bronx sooner rather than later. And as for Yarbrough, he needs to finish this month strong because if he doesn’t, the chatter from the fanbase will grow louder, and it could prompt the Yankees' brass to make a change.Add us as a preferred source on GoogleFollow