In my Last post, I broke down the Yankees rotation. In this post, I’ll be looking both backwards and forwards at the Yankees bullpen. The Yankees bullpen has been a strength for a long time. This year’s team had it’s share of blowups, but when all was said and done, it was still one of the best in the game. They finished Top 5 in baseball in ERA as well as metrics like SIERA, FIP, and WAR. As I briefly touched on in the last post, Pitching Coach Matt Blake played a big part in the development of pitchers like Jonathan Loaisiga. Brian Cashman also made a few in-season trades that were a big part of the bullpen’s late season resurgence. The bullpen is compromised of mostly hard throwing sinker balls who strike guys out and have high groundball ball rates.
Will Return: The bullpen will be led by Jonathan Loaisiga, who was not only the best reliever on the Yankees, but one of the best relievers in baseball. He had a 3.3 rWAR (Baseball reference) and 2.4 fWAR (Fangraphs) ranking first and fourth in baseball respectively. He’s also an elite groundball pitcher producing a groundball on 60.9 percent of batted balls. Mid-season acquisition, Clay Holmes, is going to be another key bullpen piece for the Yankees. Arguably Cashman’s best trade acquisition this season, Holmes dominated after getting traded to the Bronx. He had 1.61 ERA, a 2.10 FIP, and struck out 34 batters in 28 innings with the Yankees. The biggest reason for his success down the stretch is as simple as he threw strikes. With the Pirates, he walked 25 batters in 42 innings compared to only 4 in 28 innings with the Yankees. Like Loaisiga, he was one of the best groundball pitchers in baseball. Michael King was a another reliever who emerged down the stretch. After spending the first part of the season switching between the rotation and the bullpen. King was much better out of the pen than the rotation. In 6 starts, he had a 5.47 ERA and only averaged 4 innings per start. In 16 appearances out of the pen, he had a 2.33 ERA and struck out 42 batters in 38.2 innings. If they use him like they did in September, King will likely play the role of multi-inning high leverage guy. Wandy Peralta and Lucas Luetge are under the radar lefties that will be back in The Bronx next year. Peralta came to the Yankees from the Giants in a rare late April trade. Peralta a 3.07 ERA and a 57.9 groundball rate emerging as Aaron Boone’s most trusted lefty reliever. Luetge came out of nowhere and made the team out of Spring Training. The 34 year old who hadn’t made a major league appearance since 2015, proved he wasn’t a fluke by posting 2.74 ERA. Luetge’s best weapon is his curveball. According to Yankees beat writer, Max Goodman, hitters were 5-50 against his curveball with a 51.4 Whiff rate. A third of his strikeouts ended with a batter swinging and missing at a curveball.
Most Likely Back: Aroldis Chapman was somewhat of a lightning rod for Yankees fans this year. He was lights out the first 2 months of the season. In his first 23 appearances, he let up one earned run and struck out 43. The next month was the worst stretch of his career. He only pitched 5.2 in 9 appearances and had a 22.24 ERA. Ouch! While he still gave Yankees fans heartburn by occasionally walking the tight rope, he recovered well from his nightmarish stretch posting 1.95 ERA and striking out 48 batters in 27.2 innings the rest of the year. Yankees fans wanting to part ways with Chapman is understandable. His $18 million salary is more than some teams spend on their whole bullpen and he’s had shaky outings even when slamming the door shut on team. However, Chapman’s unlikely to leave New York. Chapman has been in the league ten years, the last five with the Yankees, giving him 10-5 rights. Because of this, he has the right to refuse a trade. Where would he accept a trade? He lives in South Florida during the off-season, but the Marlins probably aren’t close even to contention and willing to blow $18 million on a reliever. The Phillies could be a suitor because his old Manager, Joe Girardi is there and their General Manager, Dave Dombrowski’s been knowing to be cavalier when it comes to deal prospects, but would Chapman want to leave New York and play for a team that’s spent the last 2 years hovering around .500? Even in the event Chapman does agree to leave the Yankees, they would probably have to eat some of the money and maybe even throw in a prospect.
50/50: Chad Green has been a valuable part of the bullpen since 2017. He had a 3.12 ERA and struck out 10.6 per nine innings, but he also let up 14 home runs, many of them came late in devastating losses. While Green’s overall numbers were still solid, he pitched a career high 83.2 and had one of the lowest groundball rates on the team at 27.3 %. The workload and groundball rate combined with his lack of a strong secondary pitch, suggest that Green’s stuff might not age well. He’s in his last season before hitting free agency and is expected to make the most money out of any arbitration eligible reliever. Joely Rodriguez, who came to New York in the Joey Gallo trade, has a club option for next season. Rodriguez is one of the last of a dying breed, a lefty specialist. Rodriguez is tough on lefties holding them to a .203 batting average, .288 on base percentage, and a .271 slugging percentage (.559 OPS). He struggled against righties who hit .339/.380/.446 (.826). Despite struggling against righties, Rodriguez could still be a valuable piece to the Yankees bullpen considering on the road to a World Series next year could have to face elite lefty hitters like Rafael Devers, Austin Meadows, Kyle Tucker, and Yordan Alvarez. Albert Abreu and Nick Nelson spent a lot of time riding the Scranton shuttle between Triple A and the majors. Abreu has a similar arsenal to Loaisiga with a hard sinker and a breaking pitch with a high spin rate. Abreu had a 5.15 ERA, but he if not for 2 terrible outing, his ERA would have been sub-3. Unfortunately for Abreu, he’s out of minor league options so if he doesn’t make the roster out of spring training, he’ll have to pass through waivers. Nelson showed good stuff but was inconsistent during the Covid shortened season and dominated in Spring Training. However, his dominance didn’t transfer to the 2021 season as he posted an 8.79 ERA and 2.16 WHIP in the majors. More than half of his major league appearances came in April. Nelson did have a solid season in Triple A posting a 3.81 ERA and striking out 62 in 52 innings. Nelson has another minor league option so he can spend more time developing in the minors next year, but if you were ranking every player on the Yankee on the 40 man roster, he’d probably be towards the bottom making him a DFA candidate.
Going, going Gone: Zack Britton* and Darren O’Day will not play for the Yankees next year. Britton will spend the whole season on the IL after having Tommy John Surgery in September. Britton’s turning 34 in December and is in the last year of his contract. Hopefully, he can catch on with another team in 2023, but if he does continue his career, it most likely won’t be in the Bronx. Darren O’Day has a mutual option but he might also have played his last major league game. He had season ending hamstring surgery in July and is rumored to be considering retirement.
Potential 40 Man Additions: The Yankees have a lot of hard throwing relievers in the upper minors. Stephen Ridings is the headliner. After coming up during a Covid outbreak, Ridings, nicknamed the Red Giant because of his red hair and six foot eight inch frame, became an instant Yankee legend. In his Major League debut, he struck out the side and hit 100 MPH on the radar gun. Ridings has a great success story too. Last year, he was substitute teaching at a school in Florida. He signed with the Yankees after being released by the Royals this winter. He struck out 30 in 19 innings while posting a 0.47 ERA at Double A Somerset before being promoted to Scranton. He pitched 10 innings at Scranton before his call up but didn’t pitch after his return to the minors because of an injury. Ron Marinaccio is another good potential addition to the bullpen. He struck out a whopping 102 batters in 66.1 innings between double and triple A. Greg Weissert could be the next in a long line of great groundball pitchers. He had a 48.8 groundball rate at Scranton and struck out 14.2 batters per 9 innings at Somerset.
Unlike starting pitchers, I don’t think the Yankees need to make a move for a reliever. At least not a big one. Relievers are like NFL running backs. The top ones will get paid, but you can find good ones for cheap. They still have big money committed to Chapman and Britton, which is something I hope they don’t in the do in the future. Or at least until Loaisiga’s a free agent if he keeps it up. Next time, I’ll be looking at the Yankees catching and infield situations. May the force be with you.