TAMPA — Nathan Eovaldi’s disappointing tenure in The Bronx is coming to an end with the right-hander reportedly agreeing to a one-year deal with the Rays that includes a team option for 2018.
Although the Yankees considered a reunion with Eovaldi, his exit is not a surprise. He will miss all of 2017 after undergoing elbow surgery in August, which is why the team did not tender him a contract after the season.
With Eovaldi set to become a free agent following this year, a deal like the one the Rays offered him, which will pay him $2 million this season in hopes he can recover to pitch for them in 2018, made sense.
Eovaldi, who turns 27 Monday, had been arbitration eligible and likely would have made about $7 million if he had not gotten injured. As he did in stints with the Dodgers and Marlins, Eovaldi failed to find any consistency despite a 100-mph fastball.
He actually pitched well in his final month with the Yankees, going 3-2 with a 2.67 ERA in his last eight appearances before needing a second Tommy John surgery, as well as a procedure to repair a torn flexor muscle in his elbow.
Eovaldi came to the Yankees in the December 2014 trade that sent Martin Prado and David Phelps to the Marlins.
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