Yankees close to minor league deal with Andrew Bailey

The Yankees' bullpen has been left with quite a few holes  since Mariano Rivera retired during the offseason. After spending nearly $500 million on free-agents over the winter, the Yankees did very little address those bullpen holes.

With David Robertson likely to be the closer, Shawn Kelley the early favorite to be the setup man, and Matt Thornton likely to take over as the lefty in the bullpen after Boone Logan signed with the Colorado Rockies, the rest of the spots are up for grabs.

But that could soon be changing quite a bit with the Yankees reportedly on the verge of signing right-hander Andrew Bailey to a minor-league deal with a ton of incentives included.

The major-league side of Bailey's deal with the Yankees is worth $2.5 million, and includes an option for 2-15, plus a buyout.

Bailey, 29, had surgery to repair a torn labrum in his shoulder in July, and the hope is that he'll be ready to take the mound for the Yankees in mid-May.

This has a chance to be a very low-risk, high-reward type signing for the Yankees. Back in his early years with the Oakland Athletics, Bailey was one of the best relievers in the league, and getting back to full-health could turn into a big add-on to the bullpen in the middle of the season.

He spent the last couple of years with the Boston Red Sox, and in 2013, he had a 3.77 ERA in 28.1 innings.

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Gavin Ewbank is the Lead Writer of Yanks Beat Blog, and you can follow him on Twitter @GavinEwbank.