New York Yankees News: Bullpen Shakeup Lands Betances in Closer Role

The New York Yankees had to place their outstanding closer, LHP Andrew Miller and his 1.03 ERA and 17 saves, on the DL this week.  This is prompting some pretty interesting changes to the back-end of the Yankees pitching core, and may make for some interesting late innings. The most obvious change is that the Yankees will need a new closer. Fortunately, the choice is easy, RHP Dellin Betances is the obvious choice.

For the past two seasons, Betances has been the set-up guy, locking down the eighth inning, and he has performed very well. Last season he was the bridge to David Robertson, now closing for the White Sox, and this season for Miller. Betances has been outstanding,  logging a 1.40 ERA in 2014 and an even more impressive .028 ERA in 2015.

There is no doubt Betances is an awesome pitcher who often looks unhittable, and that he has the right stuff to close games. But, there is a mystique that surrounds closing out a game, a mental toughness that not every pitcher has. It is now time to find out if Betances’ success in the eighth inning will carry over to the closer role. We will find out if he does have the closer mentality needed for this job.

This trial will not be an easy test for Betances as the Yankees play 20 games without a day off. The problem with asking Betances to take over a very difficult, high-pressure role, without any days off, is that it may not even be about how well Betances performs, but instead about the rest of the pitching staff. It is much easier to close out a game if the pitchers in front of you have done a good job. Something that Robertson and Miller have been fortunate to have in having Betances working in front of them.

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It is a lot easier to get three outs if you inherit clean base paths. And, of course, if the starting pitchers and relief core cannot pitch well enough to create save situations, then Betances may not even get enough opportunities. It truly is a situation where his job relies on those in front of him to do well. In other words, Betances made the closer’s job easier, hopefully this new bullpen can do the same for him.

The bridge to Betances is going to look a little different than it did for Miller.  But, losing Miller is not the only change to the bullpen the Yankees have made this week. Even considering that in all of baseball the part of the team that is the most fluid and experiences the most roster changes is the bullpen the Yankees have made a lot of changes this week.

Who’s out:  LHP Miller (15-Day DL), LHP David Carpenter (Traded for 2B prospect Tony Renda), RHP Esmil Rogers (outrighted to AAA), LHP Jacob Lindgren (Sent down Thursday).

Who’s in: RHP Jose Ramirez (2.25 ERA at Scranton Wilkes-Barre), RHP Sergio Santos (4.73 ERA).

Who’s back: RHP Chris Martin (3.55 ERA).

Who’s still here:  LHP Chris Capuano (5.29 ERA) ,  LHP Chasen Shreve (2.16), LHP Justin Wilson (3.86).

There are very few Yankees’ fans who will mourn the loss of Esmil Rogers (6.27 ERA), who like Carpenter, was just not effective enough to continue to bring in to games. Shreve and Wilson have been very good. There are two new pitchers who were brought in on Saturday. Ramirez a 25-year old prospect who has very little MLB experience and Santos a recent acquisition, who was most recently with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

This new look bullpen will face the Baltimore Orioles through the weekend and before facing the Miami Marlins in four games, two in Miami and two at home in the Bronx. Will this new-look bullpen be effective? Will Betances succeed in taking over the closer role? What do you think about this new bullpen?  Let us know in the comments below.