Yankees: Why they should experiment with an ‘opener’ in 2019?

Historically, the Rays usage of the opener was not the first time a reliever started a baseball game. In the 1924 World Series, the Washington Senators sent out their starting pitcher, Curly Ogden, to pitch to the first two batters, and then a left-handed pitcher trotted in from the pen.

In another high leverage situation, the Pittsburgh Pirates attempted to throw off the Cinncinati Reds in the 1990 National League Champion Series. In an attempt to have the Reds change their batting order, the Pirates announced a left-handed pitcher, Zane Smith, would start the game instead of their right-handed scheduled pitcher, Ted Power.

And in what Ron Darling called “a precursor to all the things that you see today,” the Oakland Athletics planned on platooning their mediocre starting pitching staff for a brief six-game stint in the 1993 season. This sounds similar to Dave Fleming’s proposal for a 3-3-3 pitching rotation, meaning each pitcher would pitch three innings in a game.

Bryan Grosnick, a writer for SB Nation, proposed using an opener for the first inning or two before having the traditional starting pitcher enter the game. And in Brian Kenny’s 2016 book Ahead of the Curve, he identifies that the highest scoring inning in baseball is the first inning, so why wouldn’t a team want to shut down the opposition in the first inning with a reliable reliever?

If the Yankees are going to use the opener, it should be once in a while this season. As for who would open the game, pick your poison. Righties Dellin Betances, Chad Green, Adam Ottovino, Jonathan Holder, and lefties Zack Britton and Aroldis Chapman could shut down any top of the order lineup.

The model the Rays used last year seemed to work. However, let’s not forget the Rays had to use more relievers because their healthy starting pitchers weren’t developed enough yet to pitch deep into games. In contrast, The Yankees starting pitching staff has starters who can pitch quality starts into the sixth inning consistently.

The Yankees experienced staff consists of veterans and a lot of lefties. Maybe shaking things up a bit and throwing out a righty to face the first three batters isn’t a bad idea if the first three of the batting order kill southpaws (i.e. the Boston Red Sox). Also, the Yankees do have a weak point in the back end of their rotation with C.C. Sabathia.

I love Sabathia, but he is not the same pitcher he once was. He can’t pitch deep into games anymore, and his efficiency is declining. It could help his performance if he came into the game in the second inning after a shutdown reliever gets by the top of the batting order. He seems like the type of guy who put his ego aside for the benefit of the team

The other obvious point to mention is injuries to C.C. Sabathia and Luis Severino to start the season. The Yankees will need spot starts from youngsters Domingo German, Luis Cessa, and their top pitching prospect Jonathan Loaisiga.

German is having a nice spring, but he was shaky last year despite his fantastic swinging strike rate. Cessa has never really shown exceptional performance in the majors. Loaisiga appears to be inconsistent with his command even though his minor league numbers hinted that he could be a solid starter in the majors.

The recent addition of Gio Gonzalez may patch up the hole at the end of the rotation if he is on the roster by the end of April.  I think the signing of Gio was a steal for the pitcher he could be. Still, some of baseball’s great minds support the implementation of using openers. The numbers showed last year it’s a practice worth exploring. But what are the downsides of using an opener? Is this just a trend or is this something that could last?

Tom Van Riper, a New York Mets writer for SportsMoney, challenged the usage of ‘the opener’ in May of last year. He mentioned he respects the work of Brian Kenny, but he does not see enough benefit from utilizing the opener.

The opener idea seems to be  latest iteration of an ongoing game of musical chairs that has never yielded any real results when it comes to winning. Perhaps it would boost your chances of grabbing that first inning lead, but wouldn’t it stand to reason that your rate of converting mid-game and late-game leads would drop correspondingly with one of your best relievers already used?

Here’s the thing about the Yankees in 2019, they have enough insurance in their bullpen if they need a high leverage reliever at any point in a ball game. The Rays did not have that luxury in 2018. Perhaps Van Riper’s opinion would be different if the New York Mets, who were rumored to try out ‘the opener’ last year, had several high-leverage relievers.

It’s human nature for us to find ways to improve positive outputs, even if things don’t seem to be broke. We’re always looking for innovative ways to receive more positive results.

With the weapons the Yankees have in the bullpen, I believe they could champion this new approach and be scary good in 2019 on the road to a 28th World Series championship.