Yankees playoff closer power rankings after Ron Marinaccio injury

4. Lou Trivino

Give Lou Trivino and his heavy sinker credit. He’s developed and emphasized the pitch exactly the way Yankee fans thought he would when he arrived midsummer from Oakland, sporting a 6.47 ERA.

With the Yankees? That’s been lowered all the way to 1.74 in 20.2 innings.

However, while he’s been a master at wriggling out of trouble and covering the sixth, seventh and eighth innings, Trivino has created much of the traffic on the base paths himself. With the A’s, he sported a ridiculous WHIP of 1.875. In New York, that mark is still a less-than-ideal 1.355, though he’s by and large keeping the ball in the ballpark (0.4 homers/nine, down from 1.4 by the Bay).

The best use of Trivino is to soak up innings after a starter battles through five and turns things over to a well-rested ‘pen. The second-best use of Trivino is when runners reach first and second with one out in the eighth, with the Yankees up two runs. Third-best? As a matchup-based closer.

Surely, he’ll get a crack at the role this fall. He’s starred, at times, with the Yankees as sort of a Clay Holmes-lite, inducing hard grounders and sweeping his slider off the plate. He’s no doubt worked his way up the trust tree, but not into the highest branches.

Trivino’s ranked fourth. He’ll have a shot. It’ll feel fine. Hopefully, it’ll work.