3 Yankees who barely contributed to Red Sox sweep who'll be crucial against Rays

The New York Yankees made quick work of the Boston Red Sox, sweeping the hated rivals in just two games in the best-of-three ALWCS. The Yankees broke open both games, scoring nine runs in each and bludgeoning the Red Sox 18-2 overall.

As a result, Aaron Boone did not have to use his full roster, and several players were only needed to play small roles behind dominant starting pitching and the offensive eruptions that allowed them to coast through the late innings.

New York will now prepare to face yet another division rival, the Tampa Bay Rays, in the ALDS. The best-of-five series will be less claustrophobic than what we saw against Boston, and it's likely that we'll see players who barely contributed against the Red Sox play bigger parts against the Rays.

These three Yankees will play much more crucial roles against the Rays

Brent Headrick

In a way, the series against the Red Sox played out in the best way possible for Brent Headrick and the Yankees. New York's relief ace was fantastic this year, tying Mariano Rivera and Tom Gordon for the most scoreless appearances in a single season with 65. To get there, though, Headrick worked a lot, leading the league with 81 appearances and throwing the 11th most innings out of the pen with 78 2/3 frames on his ledger. He seemed to buckle a bit under the extreme workload, with a 4.30 ERA from August 1 through the season's end.

Fortunately, he was only called upon to throw three pitches in total against Boston. In Game 1, Ben Rice's grand slam broke the game open, allowing Boone to keep the southpaw in the pen as Paul Blackburn picked up where Cam Schlittler left off. That likely won't be the case against Tampa, especially as Boone has shown that he'll bring Headrick into any sticky situations and not just reserve him for eighth-inning setup duty. He also handles right-handed batters better than lefties this season (.603 OPS vs. .761), so he'll be deployed in any tight spot. Good to see him get a smidge of work in and nothing more against the Sox.

Jose Caballero

It's only logical that a former Tampa Bay Ray could become one of the keys to defeating the Rays, right? At least, that's the hope with Jose Caballero, who was brought in as a defensive replacement in the eighth inning of Game 2 after Paul Goldschmidt hit for Ryan McMahon. That was the beginning and the end of Caballero's action in the series.

The third base equation will be interesting in this upcoming series. Yankees' left-handed hitters went 11-for-18 against Boston's lefties, but McMahon was excluded from that party. Amed Rosario got the start in Game 1 against lefty Payton Tolle, and McMahon was protected from facing any southpaws.

Rosario hasn't hit lefties all year, despite his reputation, and his defense at the hot corner has been atrocious. That latter point is important going up against a Rays team that likes to put the ball in play and pressure defenses. It's possible that we could see Caballero overtake Rosario as the go-to platoon option because of this. Or, at the very least, Caballero could have a bigger role as a pinch runner and defensive replacement in tight games.

David Bednar

New York's closer was spared any true high-leverage work, but did come in to pitch the ninth in Game 2 to slam the door on Boston and secure the 9-2 victory. In the outing, Bednar pitched a scoreless inning and worked around a leadoff walk to Willson Contreras, but labored a bit, throwing 22 pitches in the process.

We hope that New York's offense keeps rolling to the point that turning to Bednar will be a luxury and not a necessity, but in all likelihood, the Yankees will be in some tight games against Tampa that will require Bednar's services, potentially across multiple innings.

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