Yankees: Who should be the closer while Aroldis Chapman is on the DL?

With Aroldis Chapman out of action on the 10-day DL, the Yankees have a decision to make on who their closer will be during his absence. The good news is they have three great options to choose from in Zach Britton, Dellin Betances, and David Robertson. Who should they go with?

If there was one area on this Yankees team where they have plenty of depth to replace a player in the case of an injury it’s in their bullpen. The Yankees have arguably the best bullpen in baseball and one of the most talented groups the game has ever seen. They’ve struggled at times over the past month but come October this pen is expected to lead the team on an extended playoff run like they did a season ago.

Without a healthy Aroldis Chapman that won’t be as easy so you hope this time off will help him recover from his knee problems and he can come back fresh for the stretch run. However, If he doesn’t the Yankees still have plenty of relievers who can dominate opposing lineups. For the time being Zach Britton makes the most sense to take over the role, but Aaron Boone may opt to go with a closer by committee based on which matchups make the most sense.

Since David Robertson is day to day with a sore shoulder he should stay in his usual setup role and pitch the seventh inning once he returns. Dellin Betances has been unhittable in the eighth for months now and has some experience closing but why mess with a good thing? Betances is the type of pitcher you don’t want to mess with when he’s going well and he’s been great for a while now. Out of the three options, he has the least experience closing games and his inability to control the running game and field his position would scare me closing out games.

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Britton has struggled since coming over to the Yankees (5.23 ERA) but he still has plus stuff and he’ll only get better the more he pitches. It’s taken him some time to fully recover from offseason Achilles surgery, and the last piece of the puzzle for him is regaining his control.

The velocity on his bowling ball sinker has returned but he’s had trouble locating it. We’ve seen a lot of sinkers in the dirt from Britton as a Yankee, but he’s coming off three straight scoreless outings and seems like he’s close to regaining his All-Star form. If that’s the case Britton is the obvious choice to replace Chapman.

It wasn’t long ago when Britton was the best closer in baseball. His 2016 season will go down as one of the best ever by a closer and I don’t think he’s that far off from being that same pitcher again. Once he starts getting ahead of hitters consistently and limiting the walks Britton will dominate and be a huge part of this Yankee bullpen down the stretch.

I’d go with Britton as the closer until Chapman returns but as I said before Boone could opt to go by the matchups. If lefties are due up he could bring in Britton and go with Betances to face the righties. He could also look at career numbers and opponent batting averages and base his decision off that. Both pitchers can get out any hitter when they’re at their best but when you have this many options it might make more sense to look at the analytics and go by the numbers.

Because the Yankees have so much talent in their bullpen Boone can’t really go wrong with whoever he chooses. However, Britton has had the most success closing out games and knows what it takes to get those final three outs. He’s been a bit shaky since coming to the Yankees but he’s getting better and a move back to his customary closer role could make him more comfortable and lead to better results.