The New York Yankees rebuild on the fly mission continued
through the Winter Meetings and will likely continue all winter long if Brian
Cashman has his way. The Yankees have traded away a ton of innings out of their
bullpen already with the Adam Warren and Justin Wilson trades all while trading
two of their most trusted relief pitchers in the process. A new pecking order
or totem pole is being established in the Yankees bullpen and on paper it’s far
from the super bullpen that Cashman set out to build and emulate just a few
season’s ago.
Andrew Miller is still here for now holding down the 9th
inning while Dellin Betances seems like a lock for the 8th inning
but what else? Presuming the Yankees bring a 12 man pitching staff with them to
Yankee Stadium on Opening Day there are five bullpen slots wide open right now
in the Bronx. Bryan Mitchell likely fills one of those roles, although not
likely the 7th inning role, while Ivan Nova leads the charge for the
long relief role but what about the other three? Take your pick I guess,
remember the Scranton Shuttle we all saw in 2015?
Fresh arms like Nick Goody, Nick Rumbelow, James Pazos,
Caleb Cotham, Branden Pinder and Jacob Lindgren to name a few were called upon
more times than most to fill the void in the Yankees bullpen. The best arm, in
my opinion, out of the bunch here is Lindgren and he will likely earn a spot if
healthy. Remember Lindgren has bone spurs removed from his elbow last season
and missed the second half of the year after looking good in a small sample
size earlier in the season. Chasen Shreve is also likely to get a spot out of
spring training and will likely slide into the 7th inning role for
Joe Girardi. There is evidence that his downfall last season was due to fatigue
(release point issues, over throwing, etc.) and not mechanics or injury so it’s
also very likely that he returns to his first half form in 2016.
Two more slots for a whole lot of arms. Obviously Brian
Cashman could flip prospects for another relief pitcher, Drew Storen maybe, but
as of right now you have to think that James Pazos gets a roster spot as well
as Branden Pinder. These two were used more often than any others in their
short time on the roster and both did exceptionally well when called upon. It’s
hard to work your way into the Circle of Trust and one bad outing can get you
out of that circle but both men were on the postseason roster in 2015 and both
men seem to have earned the respect of the manager, which goes far here in New
York.
So there you have it. The Yankees bullpen, as of today, will
consist of Andrew Miller, Dellin Betances, James Pazos, Branden Pinder, Chasen
Shreve, Ivan Nova and Bryan Mitchell. That’s far from the super bullpen that
Brian Cashman reached for in multiple offseason’s but it could definitely get
the job done in my opinion. It will take a lot of mixing and matching and
bullpen management but that is one of the few areas where Joe Girardi excels.
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Sorry for the Capatcha... Blame the Russians :)