Yankees ship lefty Thornton to Nats

The Yankees bullpen has been one of its strengths this season, but that didn’t stop general manager Brian Cashman from shipping Matt Thornton to Washington on Tuesday after the Nationals made a waiver claim on the lefty.

Rich Hill, another southpaw, was called up from TripleA Scranton/WilkesBarre to take Thornton’s spot, though more changes figure to be on the way perhaps from the minors.

That’s especially true after Hill’s ugly debut, when he hit Ezequial Carrera, the only batter he faced, and allowed slowfooted Victor Martinez to steal second in the 11th inning of the Yankees’ 43, 12inning loss to the Tigers Tuesday night at the Stadium.

Cashman singled out Tyler Webb, who is at SWB, as being closest to majorleague ready. DoubleA Trenton’s James Pazos and this year’s firstround pick, Jacob Lindgren, who was just promoted to Trenton, are other candidates.

“We have some young lefthanders who are emerging quickly that we’re excited about,” Cashman said.

Cashman also wouldn’t rule out the eventual promotion of former phenom Manny Banuelos, who is doing well as a starter at Trenton.

In the meantime, though, the Yankees have replaced a serviceable situational lefty with Hill, who has spent most of this season in the minors after appearing in 63 games with the Indians a year ago.

“I think he can get lefthanders out,” Cashman said. “We’ve played all year watching our team face lefthanded pitchers, some highname [pitchers] and some noname and they have gotten our lefties out.”

“They don’t have the experience that a Matt Thornton does,” manager Joe Girardi said. “But David Robertson didn’t have the experience of Mariano Rivera and Dellin Betances didn’t have the experience Robertson had.”