The Yankees have hit a bit of a rut after a strong start to the 2026 campaign. New York has lost four of its last five games as of Monday afternoon after being swept by the Brewers, highlighting several concerns that manager Aaron Boone and general manager Brian Cashman must address to keep the Yankees firmly in the World Series discussion.

As it has been for most of the season, the Yankees’ bullpen remains one of their weak spots. Relievers like David Bednar, Brent Headrick and Fernando Cruz have been doing their job more often than not; however, the same isn’t true about various underperforming bullpen arms, including Camilo Doval.

The Dominican hurler has struggled since April began, but his history as a former All-Star reliever left room for optimism. Each passing game has been a blow to those hopes, though. The Yankees can’t continue with the status quo forever, and it’s high time to seriously consider turning the page on a chapter that has gone on too long.

The time to move on from Camilo Doval is now

Acquired from the Giants last season, the 28-year-old righty left much to be desired at the end of 2025, and the same rings true today.

Doval is sitting at a career-worst 6.14 ERA through 17 relief appearances (14 2/3 innings), allowing three homers, 10 hits and a .731 OPS along the way. He’s also surrendering a career-worst 91.6 mph average exit velocity to opposing batters, per Baseball Savant, while his 51.1% hard-hit rate allowed is noticeably above his personal (40.3%) and MLB (37.0%) averages.

It’d be one thing if Doval were showing improvements, but that isn’t the case. He’s allowed five hits with only two strikeouts in his last three games (2 2/3 innings) and was credited with his third blown save of the year after allowing an earned run in Saturday’s extra-innings loss to the Brewers.

Doval is under contract for the rest of the season and has one year of arbitration left, meaning the Yankees don’t have a long-term commitment to him. There’s no reason to extend his time in the Big Apple any longer, especially if New York wants the bullpen to go from being a problem to a strength.

Yankees have internal Camilo Doval solutions

The trade market is ripe with relief arms, but the Yankees might not be interested in trading a top prospect to facilitate a deal. Cashman and Boone could prefer an internal solution, and, fortunately for the Bronx Bombers, they have a few options.

Yovanny Cruz is one minor-league relief arm whom Yankees fans want to see promoted to the Majors. He still needs to be added to the 40-man roster, but the effort could be worth it now that Cruz is 4-1 with a 2.25 ERA and 22 strikeouts in 16 innings with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre this season.

Yerry de los Santos is another standout name who’s gotten a couple of chances with the big-league club this season. The 6-foot-3 righty owns a respectable 1.69 ERA in two MLB appearances (5 1/3 innings), which is fairly impressive considering that he’s 1-2 with a 4.30 ERA in nine Triple-A outings (two starts).

The Yankees could also consider giving top prospect Carlos Lagrange a whirl in the bullpen. He hasn’t been perfect with the RailRiders this season (0-2, 4.76 ERA in seven starts), but he does have four minor-league relief appearances under his belt. His starting experience also positions him as someone Boone can use for longer appearances or even spot starts when doubleheaders and injuries pop up.

The Yankees also have prospects like Elmer Rodríguez and Ben Hess as potential call-up options, too. He’d need to show a lot before a potential promotion, but dangling a bullpen spot in front of Luis Gil could motivate the recently demoted pitcher enough to put things together.

The above options give the Yankees six names to consider as potential Doval replacements. Those hypothetical solutions aren’t guaranteed to pan out, but it’s better to have a half-dozen arms ready to be called up in a pinch rather than be forced to rely exclusively on an external search.

Don’t delay the inevitable

Doval won’t turn 29 years old until July, so he’s still young enough to save his career. At the same time, the Yankees shouldn’t be the club that gives him opportunity after opportunity. The juice isn’t worth the squeeze anymore, especially when New York’s bullpen needs more than one change to erase the fans’ concerns.

It’s time to part ways with Doval, no matter how that happens, and give someone else a chance to help the Yankees’ bullpen. The potential replacements couldn’t do any worse, right?