So it Seems the Yankees Need a LOOGY

So it seems, for the second time today, the New York Yankees need a LOOGY. While the New York Yankees have easily been one of the best teams in all of Major League Baseball this season the team may have one glaring hole in their arsenal right now, the left-handed reliever out of the bullpen whose sole job is to get a left-handed batter or batters out. That’s better known as a LOOGY, or a Lefty One-Out GuY.

Tommy Layne is the man tasked with getting the opposing team’s toughest and best left-handed hitter out and to date he just hasn’t gotten the job done. Sure, the sample size is small but the stats are alarming and they simply won’t cut it on a team that looks to compete for an American League East Division title and possibly more.

At the time of this writing Layne is sporting an ugly 8.22 ERA and 2.217 WHIP in 11 games and 7.7 innings pitched but that’s not even the worst part. The worst part is that lefties are slashing .400/.438/.533 this season against him with a walk. They aren’t walking because they are too busy smoking the meatballs he is leaving over the plate every single night.

This isn’t going to work guys. The Yankees need a LOOGY and they may need one now as Layne’s ERA and struggles rise and continue. The Pittsburgh Pirates may be in total sell mode this summer and one such arm, Tony Watson, is set to hit free agency after the 2017 season thus making him intriguing to New York. Since the beginning of the 2013 season Watson owns the second-best ERA against left-handed hitters and his 1.53 ERA is better than some familiar names like Aroldis Chapman (1.86), Andrew Miller (2.03) and Zach Britton (1.55). Watson is a strikeout pitcher that would fit extremely well in this bullpen and inside Yankee Stadium and he wouldn’t cost and arm and a leg in terms of prospects.

This is far too early to predict and obviously much of this depends on where Pittsburgh is sitting in the standings on or around July 31^st but if they are out of it or want to move Watson I think the Yankees should jump on the deal, regardless of whether Layne turns it around or not. Improve the bullpen and turn every game into a five inning game, that’s the plan. Or it should be anyway.