Yankees playoff closer power rankings after Ron Marinaccio injury

You’re not going to believe this, but the New York Yankees made fans nervous by pulling a relief pitcher mid-game, reduced collective worry by calling the injury “nagging” and specifying that it wasn’t arm-related, then, after 48 hours of calm, yanked that pitcher out of the team’s first postseason series anyway!

Wow. Very odd! Very uncharacteristic. But, either way, Ron Marinaccio isn’t going to be a part of the Yankees’ ALDS bullpen, as he battles a stress reaction in his shin.

With Clay Holmes currently laid up with a shoulder issue, too, and Wandy Peralta trying to hustle back to full capacity at the Alternate Site in Somerset (which keeps getting rained out…), the back end of the Yankees’ first-round ‘pen is almost completely in flux. Both Holmes and Peralta should be available — they’re not on the IL yet! — but if and when they return, significant questions will remain about their varying states of effectiveness.

If you think Marinaccio’s 1.47 WHIP over his past 15 games is bad, wait until you get a load of Holmes’ 4.80 ERA in his past 30 games. Sample size getting larger, folks.

The Yankees are undoubtedly going to go the “mix-and-match” route with their playoff closer — and would probably have done so before this latest rash of injuries (didn’t even mention Zack Britton, probably better that way).

Plenty of Yankees relievers will get a chance to close this October, but after the Marinaccio news dump and as the final series in Texas ends, we’ve ranked the team’s current options in terms of how confident we are in them entering a big situation.

Honorable Mentions:

Clarke Schmidt, who can work out of a jam, but probably shouldn’t be your last line of defense

Luis Severino on a throw day, which … could be interesting, but doesn’t get him ranked

Power ranking Yankees’ closer options by comfort entering 2022 MLB Playoffs

5. Wandy Peralta

A fully-healthy Peralta has been a multi-inning fireman for the Yankees plenty of times this year, but at full strength, he’s typically tasked with covering the seventh and portions of the eighth rather than the ninth.

A Peralta recovering from injury? He moves yet another rung down the ladder.

Peralta has been a reliable option for the Yankees all year long, and in tight games with every top ‘pen arm available and rested (post-Michael King injury), he’s usually been the one waiting in the weeds to pitch a potential 10th inning or bail the closer out of trouble in the ninth. Who was there when Clay Holmes loaded the bases with Reds? Or when the Red Sox needed to be extinguished in the 10th inning on July 9? Neither worked, but still…

Without a single post-injury MLB game on his ledger prior to the postseason, Peralta will enter October as somewhat of an unknown — not Zack Britton-level, but who knows how his back will hold up? The lower-leverage his first opportunity, the better.

If Peralta has an electric ALDS, he might be elevated by the time the ALCS rolls around. At this time, we wouldn’t have the utmost confidence in him in a one-run game in the ninth. He’s teetering in Clarke Schmidt territory.

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.

3. Jonathan Loaisiga

Sinker specialist Jonathan Loaisiga has looked much better lately — and “lately” is becoming a larger sample size by the day (1.82 ERA/1.04 WHIP in his past 30 games, though it’s a 1.56 WHIP in the past seven…).

That said … don’t you always feel a little better when he’s not the last line of defense? When there’s somebody behind him to pick up the slack if the movement’s too wicked and the bases are too clogged?

There can be no doubt that Loaisiga has “closer stuff,” as well as a bulldog mentality. But he also has a tendency to be flat and hittable if he enters and things aren’t working; Loaisiga’s outing against the Red Sox last summer is a rare instance of him self-correcting midstream.

Johnny Lasagna isn’t quite Aroldis Chapman when it comes to that particular trait, but you’ll usually know where a Loaisiga outing is going from the first batter. When located properly, his stuff is legitimately unhittable. When it leaks out over the plate after a few walks, trouble brews.

Loaisiga may still be the Mariano of the Future that was foretold last summer, but it’s far more likely he’s going to be a high-yield eighth inning guy as long as his electric arm (and shoulder) allow it. He’s going to get about half the closer reps this October, but that makes us a little skittish, even if it’s mostly gut feeling.

1. Scott Effross

When rookie Scott Effross showed up midseason thanks to an unprecedented “top prospect for very controllable reliever” deal with the Cubs, nobody expected him to cover anything past the seventh inning or operate as a closer instead of a fireman. Then, he hit the shelf with a shoulder injury. Dream deferred, right?

Well … not exactly!

While Effross isn’t your prototypical closer — his big, sweeping slider is best served by landing in the other batter’s box rather than challenging hitters  — he has continued to pitch smart after returning to the Yankees, striking out 12 men in 12.2 innings with New York and remaining undaunted in big moments.

It might get lost in the shuffle — considering how much we all tried to lose August in its entirety — but Effross’ valiant effort at Fenway Park, retiring Rafael Devers on a dribbler and Xander Bogaerts on a pop out to end a 3-2 win with two runners on, is still the gold standard for cathartic Yankee closer work this year.

Based on his first-half output, Effross still has another level or two to climb in pinstripes, too; his FIP was 2.18 in a larger sample size in Chicago, and 3.43 in pinstripes.

Effross has bent, but rarely broken with the Yankees, and he’s coming off his cleanest outing yet in a two-run game in Texas against Marcus Semien and Corey Seager Monday night. It’s his job, for now.

But oh, boy, do we wish we could demote him and get a few more reliable arms out there.

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