Camilo Doval is begging the Yankees to make a bullpen trade or promotion

Though Thursday night's loss to the Chicago White Sox was a tough one, New York Yankees fans can't really be mad. The team has the best record in the AL since Aaron Judge went down and has won three series in a row. They're a good team.

But are they great? It's quite possible ... as long as they address some roster deficiencies as soon as they can. For example, Camilo Doval cannot be used in high leverage ever again. He's just incapable on so many levels.

You want to keep him around? That's fine. Relegate him to nothing duty. He's just another arm in the bullpen with electric stuff that's given zero responsibility. There's value in that. Granted, you don't want to pay $6 million for such a role, but the Yankees have to address what's in front of them.

Doval gave up a pinch-hit grand slam to Andrew Benintendi on the first pitch he threw Thursday night. That broke the tie and the White Sox avoided the sweep with a 5-1 victory. It was the first earned run the right-hander gave up since June 2, but it speaks to a larger issue that cannot be ignored.

Not only does Doval struggle mightily against left-handed hitters, but he's as bad as it gets when there's something — anything — at stake. In medium-leverage situations, the opposition is hitting .364/.400/.636 against him. In high-leverage situations, those numbers jump to .379/.387/.690. He's excellent in low leverage. Keep him there.

Camilo Doval continues to tell Yankees loud and clear a trade deadline addition is needed

The problem is that the Yankees need more high-leverage arms, and Doval was supposed to be that. He was one of the best closers in the league just a few years ago, but it's clear that he lost whatever propelled him to that pinnacle. The Yankees can't keep hoping it magically reappears.

At this moment, it'll be hard to swing a trade. It's not impossible, but they're better off testing some other Triple-A arms a bit more before they spend real assets to acquire another reliever. Bring back Yovanny Cruz for a week or two. Maybe consider starting the Carlos Lagrange era sooner than expected after he had another successful relief outing.

Whatever it is, just get Doval and Jake Bird out of any meaningful situations. Part with one of Paul Blackburn or Ryan Yarbrough. We're approaching July, those guys have done what was asked of them in order to preserve the pitching staff. There can't be another bullpen makeover at the beginning of August only for the Yankees to learn it's not going to work.

Decisions need to be made a bit earlier this year to help better prepare this team for a deep playoff run. They look like the best group in the AL, and that's without a number of their top players. Work on shoring up the weak spots right now — all the usual suspects are giving the front office no reason to wait any longer.

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