Frightening stat illuminates how few Yankees relievers are doing all the heavy lifting

You might feel as if this site has become a place where various writers are freaking out about the state of the New York Yankees bullpen for no reason. After all, the Yankees' relievers rank second in the league in ERA. There have been some issues, like Camilo Doval, but ultimately the unit has been getting the job done.

Are we a bunch of worrywarts for spilling so many words on a topic that, to date, has been more than fine statistically? No, we're not, and for one very specific reason why.

New York has gotten exceptional performances from David Bednar, Brent Headrick, and, shockingly, Paul Blackburn. Headrick, August 25 meltdown against the Astros notwithstanding, has been one of the most effective relievers in the entire league this season. Unfortunately, outside of that trio, things have been bleak. Very bleak.

The rest of the Yankees' active bullpen (including the now-injured Fernando Cruz) has been dreadful. That group has a 4.98 FIP, 4.48 xFIP, and a 9.2% K-BB rate. Basically, the bullpen only looks as good as it does because that aforementioned trio is doing some real heavy lifting.

Slowly, we've seen the decay of other previously reliable arms. Tim Hill has become a problem, posting a 4.55 ERA and 6.01 FIP since June 1. Cruz held on a little longer, but since July 1, he has recorded a 4.12 ERA and 6.08 FIP. It's been ugly.

Yankees' season will be torpedoed if David Bednar, Brent Headrick or Paul Blackburn suffer an injury or regression

Brent Headrick continues to lead the league in appearances with 68. We've been worrying all year about when he'll hit a wall. We hope he doesn't, but banking on the possibility that he won't seems crazy (and Saturday night represented another Willson Contreras-fueled stumble).

David Bednar has also been used heavily, logging 57 1/3 innings while Blackburn has tossed 71 frames, though some of that is inflated from mop-up work earlier in the season.

Still, given the level of production from the rest of the unit, the Yankees would be in a bad way if one of them were to get hurt. And there's another issue.

New York's depth has really taken a hit. Trading away guys like Yovanny Cruz thinned out the herd a bit, but since then we've also seen injuries to relatively solid depth arms like Angel Chivilli and Kervin Castro. Oh, and have you heard that the Pirates apparently fixed Doval? They tweaked his pitch mix and got him throwing his slider more, and now he has a 1.50 ERA since the trade.

All of this is to say, if any of the existing relievers are forced up the pecking order, the Yankees will suffer a double-edged loss as they'll struggle and the depth options they once had have been depleted, leaving even worse reinforcements in the minors.

Things have looked fine because of that top trio's dominance, but it was really a cardinal sin by Brian Cashman not to add reinforcements at the deadline. If the worst happens, it could be curtains for the Yankees' season when October arrives.

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