Yankees: Call to the Bullpen And A Plan To Fix Things

Last season started the year looking like the Yankees bullpen was going to be able to handle anything. It certainly had the ERA and the strikeout totals lurking around to embrace those pesky AL East hitters.

The problem was that only Dellin Betances stayed on the team while Aroldis Chapman and Andrew Miller both went on to play in the World Series as the closer’s for their respective teams. Then, the Yankees re-sign Chapman while Miller stayed with the Indians.

So what was the problem?

The problem with these three in the same bullpen was, it became more of a struggle than an aid for Joe Girardi. Getting all three of these pitchers the right amount of innings while allowing them the right amount of rest became gruesome work throughout the first half of the season for such big name pitchers. The big three were not going to appear in that many games as the season progressed and it started out with Chapman serving a 30-game suspension.

Then it became a guessing game whether or not the three of them could appear in three straight innings. If the game can go into the seventh inning, then the Yankees won the game, 12-0 when all three appear in the same game.

The problem is with Chapman having 21 save opportunities, Betances having 28 holds and Miller having 16 holds to appear in only 12 games together is the burden of too many big name relievers in the same bullpen.

What happened with Betances?

Betances was pitching lights out before the trades happened for these two; making it appear as though Betances was going to be able to take over and remain the closer for years to come. This was not the case, however, as Betances finished the year with a 3.08 ERA. He was not able to handle the role as the Yankees were expecting blowing five saves. It was a huge blow to the Yankee faithful when he started getting hit and hit hard, especially in the last month.

The strikeout to a pitcher is like a home run to a batter, but in Betances’s case, it appears to be his entire game. He pitched 73 innings striking out 126 batters, meaning that only 93 batters made outs a different way. This sounds good, but this was an atrocity for Betances as balls hit in play he surrendered a .348 batting average last year, making it difficult for him to retire batters, not via the strikeout.

So, how can the Yankees make things better?