The Ineffectiveness of Boone Logan

There are many factors that are going into the current struggles for the New York Yankees, yet time and time again, I keep finding myself placing blame on Boone Logan. At the time of this writing, the Yankees stand at 1-4, and run the risk of starting 1-5 after today’s game against Justin Verlander and the Detroit Tigers. If Joe Girardi must go to the bullpen, he might want to think twice about putting Logan in the game.

Vidal Nuno could be an option to replace Logan. (Image: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports)

Logan was acquired prior to the 2010 season from the Atlanta Braves. Right from the get-go, it appeared as though he was a gift for Joe Girardi. Logan was going to be able to fill the role of “lefty specialist” after it was vacated once Phil Coke was traded away. Logan then saw the amount of games he appeared in increase over the next few years.

Since 2010, Logan has appeared in 197 games for the Yankees. This is a crazy amount of games to appear in, and some people may even like to throw the term “overuse” around every now and then. It’s obvious that Logan easily became Girardi’s most trusted reliever, and probably his favorite too. However, “overuse” may finally be taking its toll on the lefty.

As the lone left-hander in the bullpen to begin the season, Girardi is obviously going to be calling on Logan a lot in order to get out of certain situations. Unfortunately, in the few games that he has appeared in so far this year, he has not looked good at all. It’s a very small sample size to go on, but in the world of the Yankees, it’s more than enough.

It seems as though Logan has been unable to shake off his tumultuous appearance against West Point a few weeks ago. In that game, Logan gave up four runs while only getting one out, in fact, it was the only four runs that Army would score against the Yankees that day. In a game where nearly every other Yankee did well, Logan was the only dark spot for the team. It’s fairly easy to see how this could affect Logan’s psyche.

I think that we could be seeing the end of Logan’s time as a Yankee. It’s a bit harsh to say, I know, but it is a gut feeling for me.

If the Yankees do eventually nix Logan, a pretty viable option for them would be Vidal Nuno, who had a very good Spring Training and probably should have made the team right out of the gate. Nuno is also a lefty who would be capable of appearing in the same types of situations that Logan currently finds himself in – hopefully though, to better results.

Like I said, there are many reasons why the Yankees have struggled early on in the season, and Logan is just one of them. However, I think that Girardi’s “overuse” may finally be wreaking havoc on “Everyday Boone,” and I feel that the Yankees may be left with no other choice at some point other than to just let him go.