Bomber Bites With Jumping Joe–Too Many Lefties In the Yankees Bullpen?

Before last season the resident left-hander reliever for the Yankees, Boone Logan, left via free agency to sign with the Colorado Rockies.  Logan had done a nice job as the lefty in manager Joe Girardi’s bullpen for the past four seasons but ultimately the Yankees decided not to match the Rockies offer of $16.5 million over 3 years.

Instead they signed 37 year old Matt Thornton.  Thornton was pretty good for the team posting a 2.55 ERA in 24.2 innings in the Bronx before being picked up by the Nationals on waivers.  This left the Yankees without an established lefty in the pen for the stretch run.  GM Brian Cashman attempted to fill the void with journeymen and castoffs like Josh Outman and Rich Hill but the results were less than stellar.

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Finding a reliable left handed reliever appears to have been a priority this offseason despite the emergence of Jacob Lindgren, the Yankees second round draft pick last season who tore through the minor league system.  Lindgren, nicknamed “The Strikeout Factory” was 2-1 with a 2.16 ERA and 48 strikeout in 25 innings over four levels last season and appeared to be ready to compete for a job in the spring.

However, the Yankees traded fan favorite, but expendable, backup catcher Francisco Cervelli to the Pirates in exchange for Justin Wilson, a hard throwing lefty.  Wilson was 6-1 with a 2.08 ERA and 59 strikeouts in 2013 before a slight regression to 3-4 with a 4.20 ERA and 61 strikeouts in 2014.  But the Yankees were not done yet.

Last week, the inked Andrew Miller, the former first round pick, to a four year $36 million contract.  Miller has been one of the most dominant lefties in the game for the past two years posting a 5-5 record with a 2.02 ERA and 103 strikeouts in 62.1 innings for the Red Sox and Orioles last season.

This gives Girardi three possible lefties in his pen for next season, although Lindgren could start the season in AAA as both have minor league options remaining.  The Yankees have seemingly gone from no left handed options at the end of last season to a surplus heading into 2015.  This is Girardi’s dream.

Few managers love using match-ups against hitters more than Girardi.  He manages games by whatever his binder tells him to do.  With multiple lefty options in the bullpen, he will be able to use more lefty-righty match-ups than ever before.  Yankee fans can expect longer games next season as Girardi will undoubtedly use more and more of his bullpen each night for a single batter.

This means longer games for Yankee fans at time when MLB is striving to shorten the game.  In the Arizona Fall League this year, MLB experimented with new rules designed to quicken the pace of play.  Of course, as long as there are mandated times allotted for commercial breaks and television in general, the games will never get much shorter.  But Girardi making multiple pitching changes in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings of every game certainly won’t help either.

Odds are the Yankees will start the season with at least two of the lefties in the bullpen.  Lindgren, as the youngest and with the least professional experience seems the likely candidate to start the season at AAA.  However, look for his call up in the first half of the season leading to Girardi’s match-up dreams coming to fulfillment.