Yankees: How the Dellin Betances injury will impact the bullpen

The Yankees got more bad injury news on Tuesday when it was announced that relief ace Dellin Betances will start the season on the IL. Betances’ fastball velocity this spring has taken a noticeable dip and after an MRI revealed an impingement in his right shoulder now we know the reason why.

The hits just keep on coming for the Yankees this spring. The team was already expected to be without CC Sabathia, Didi Gregorius, Aaron Hicks, and Luis Severino to start the season and now Betances will join them on the injured list.

Betances arrived at camp later than usual this year, but for good reason. He and his wife became first-time parents after they welcomed a baby boy in early February. Betances admitted the late arrival altered his usual offseason throwing program and put him behind the other pitchers according to George King III of the New York Post.

In Betances’ most recent spring outing on Sunday his fastball velo only averaged 89 mph and throughout the spring he wasn’t lighting up the radar gun like we’re used to seeing. He’s been topping out at 91-92mph and throughout his career as a reliever, he’s always sat around 98 mph with the ability to reach triple digits quite often.

When concerns were raised earlier this spring about the decrease in velocity Betances didn’t seem all that worried because he usually starts the spring throwing in the low 90’s. It takes him time to get his arm strength back and get going, but for him to still be sitting in the high 80s this late into the spring everyone had a feeling something wasn’t right.

Fortunately for Dellin and the Yanks, this doesn’t look like it’s going to be a serious injury and it’s better that they decided to sit him down now as opposed to during the season. It’s not the end of the world that he won’t be on the Opening Day roster, especially since the Yankees bullpen should be able to make up for his absence just fine.

The Yankees have the best pen in baseball with Betances and even without him, I think you could still make that case. Now that he’ll be sidelined for what’s hopefully only a short period of time to start the year Zack Britton will likely take over as the primary setup man in the eighth inning for Aroldis Chapman. Adam Ottaino could also fill that role as could Chad Green on occasion.

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You never want to see a key contributor go down this close to the season, but if there’s one area the Yankees can afford an injury it’s to someone in their bullpen. I already mentioned Chapman, Britton, Green, and Ottavino, but let’s not forget about Jonathan Holder who had a breakout year last year.

Tommy Kahnle also looks much improved this spring after he had an injury plagued 2018 season. If he can regain his 2017 form that’s another top setup man for Aaron Boone to go to. Stephen Tarpley will likely round out the pen for the Yanks and based on what he accomplished down the stretch last September he could be a real weapon to use against left-handed hitters.

Again, the Yankees should be just fine without Betances early on but if there’s one concern it’s that the heavy workload he’s had since 2014 might be catching up to him. Over the past five seasons, Betances has pitched about as much as any reliever in the game including the postseason.

I hope that’s not the case and that this is more so a product of his late arrival to camp because shoulder injuries that linger can lead to something much worse than an impingement.