Monday, October 5, 2015

Every Yankees Fans Favorite Scapegoat

Joe Girardi has been blamed for overworking the bullpen this season. However, I think the reason for that is pretty simple... Yankees starters were not good this year (4.25 ERA), so Joe had to go to the bullpen more often. This season Yankees relievers threw 530.2 IP (7th in MLB), which was 29.1 innings more than in 2014 when the starters' ERA was 3.77.

"What is everybody getting on me about?"

Those innings totals go down further in the three years before that. In 2013 Yankees relievers tossed 477.2 innings, in which the starters had an ERA of 4.08. Back in 2011 things were nearly identical, as the bullpen threw 479 innings while the starters' ERA was 4.03. The 2012 season was an outlier, as the relievers accounted for only 444 innings, while the starters had around the same ERA as the year before and year after (4.05).

You may be thinking... "sure, he doesn't overwork the entire bullpen, but some guys throw too much."

Who threw too much?

Dellin Betances has thrown 84 innings this season, which is more than any other reliever in MLB. While that certainly sounds excessive, Dellin threw 90 innings last season. In 2013, Dellin threw 89 innings between AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and New York. Before that season he was a starting pitcher, having thrown 143.1 and 129 innings in 2012 and 2011 (2012 includes 12 innings in the Arizona Fall League). So I'd argue that 90 innings isn't too much for him at all, as he's thrown around that much or more for the last five years.

Andrew Miller has thrown 62.2 innings this season. Well, in 2014 he tossed 62.1 innings between Boston and Baltimore. Now yes, Miller only threw 30.2 innings in 2013, but that surely would have been higher had it not been for him having foot surgery in July that year. Oh, and in the year before that, Andrew tossed 66.1 innings between MLB and the minors.

Justin Wilson has gotten a good chunk of work too, having tossed 61 innings this season. Well, Justin tossed 60 innings for the Pittsburgh Pirates last year, 73.2 innings for them in 2013, and 140.1 innings in 2012 (mostly as a starter in the minors). Too much work for Justin? I don't think so.

The last reliever I'll look at is Chasen Shreve. Chasen has thrown 60.2 innings this season (2.1 of those in AAA). Here are his innings totals for the previous three seasons... 76, 62.1, and 64.1.

By the way, one possibility for Shreve's effectiveness going away this season was overexposure to MLB. While he threw plenty of innings in previous years, only 12 of them came in MLB (he was a rookie for Atlanta in 2014). Just a guess here.

"I don't know, either."

To be frank, Joe Girardi has gotten way more heat from fans this season than he should have.

People got on him for playing Stephen Drew too much. Well, who else should he have played instead? Brendan Ryan and his career battling line of .234/.295/.315? Rob Refsnyder, who on top of having iffy defense, also had a poor second half at the plate in AAA? While I'd agree that he may as well have given the kid more chances, you can't tell me that playing Drew more often was asinine.

Nor you can't tell me that he should have sat Jacoby Ellsbury or Brett Gardner, both of whom have struggled this season. Neither player was going to get any MVP votes, but they have a track record that I would not expect any manager to give up on. Sure, it would have been nice to see youngsters such as Slade Heathcott get more playing time, but pulling the plug on Ellsbury and/or Gardner wouldn't make sense to me.

"At least somebody has our backs."

Look... Joe Girardi is not the best manager in Major League Baseball. Nobody is saying that. But if you think you can convince me that he's among the worst you're wasting your breath.

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