Yankees have six weeks to answer bullpen questions
Clay Holmes of the Yankees reacts on the mound during the ninth inning against the Rangers at Yankee Stadium on Aug. 11. Credit: Jim McIsaac
With six weeks left in the regular season -- absent an epic collapse -- the Yankees are pretty much guaranteed a playoff spot.
Whether it’s the AL East crown or a wild-card berth, the Yankees should be playing in October. But how deep into the month, and even possibly into the next one, will they be able to go?
You know their issues.
- Offense, other than Juan Soto and Aaron Judge, who hit back-to-back homers in the first inning and drove in four-fifths of the Yankees’ runs their 9-5, 12-inning loss to Cleveland on Tuesday night at Yankee Stadium. The Yankees went 0-for-13 with runners in scoring position before Judge’s two-run double in the 12th.
- Inconsistent starting pitching (and concern for Luis Gil, who left Tuesday night’s game in the fourth inning with lower back tightness, thankfully for the Yankees not an arm issue).
- Closer Clay Holmes, who leads MLB with 10 blown saves.
Manager Aaron Boone might disagree with that last one. But it was Boone who, after 24 hours to sleep on it, doubled down on Tuesday on his lukewarm support for Holmes after blown save No. 10 in the Little League Classic on Sunday night in lovely Williamsport, Pennsylvania.
On Tuesday, before the Yankees hosted the AL Central-leading Guardians, Boone was asked if Holmes would get the ball in the ninth inning if the Yankees had a save situation.
“Could very well be,” he said. “But I will leave that open and try to put these guys in places where they match up really well. We’ll see . . . I expect it to be Clay a lot of nights, but if I feel like that really good matchup for Clay is in the eighth on a given night, (and it) lines up better what’s coming around in the ninth for Weave (Luke Weaver) or Tommy (Kahnle) or whoever, then I’ll be open to doing that a little bit more than I have."
Holmes did pitch on Tuesday night, a scoreless ninth inning in a tied game. He walked one and struck out the side.
Is Holmes back? Well, he struck out the side on Sunday night, too, but also allowed the tying run in the Yankees’ eventual 3-2, 10-inning loss to the Tigers.
Whether it’s Holmes or Weaver or Kahnle or someone else as the closer, let’s just agree the Yankees don’t have a lockdown one for the stretch run. Unless Holmes regains his All-Star form or someone else emerges, they won’t have one going into October, either.
Here’s a thought: The pitchers Boone calls to get key outs late in a playoff game may not be in the bullpen right now at all. It could be starters such as Marcus Stroman and Nestor Cortes, or currently injured or rehabbing pitchers such as Clarke Schmidt, Scott Effross, Ian Hamilton and Lou Trivino.
In other words, it could be a whole new bullpen ballgame for Boone.
It may be nuts to contemplate this on a night when the Yankees’ bullpen (six relievers) put up eight shutout innings against Cleveland before the Guardians scored six runs in the 12th against the final two available relievers, Tim Mayza and Michael Tonkin.
Bullpens can be fickle, that’s for sure. But just ask yourself this: Do you trust the current bullpen to put up zeroes down the stretch and in the playoffs?
Whether the Yankees win the division or don’t, they won’t need more than three or four starters in the playoffs. So let’s pencil in a top three of Gerrit Cole, Carlos Rodon (scary, because he could put up seven shutout innings or give up seven runs in the first, but he’s the No. 2) and, say, Gil, assuming his back tightness is only a minor annoyance.
General manager Brian Cashman, when he didn’t trade for Stroman in 2019, said: “We didn’t think he would be a difference-maker. We felt he would be in our bullpen in the postseason.”
Cashman apologized to Stroman for that comment, and the two had a laugh about it when Stroman signed with the Yankees last offseason.
But who knew Cashman’s words could come back to be a prophecy five years later, especially if Stroman is able to bring his unmatched heart and passion out of the bullpen in the postseason?
Ditto Cortes. No one competes harder than the funky lefthander, who wouldn’t be fazed by the bullpen door swinging open in the hot moments of a postseason game.
The same can be said for Schmidt, who is working back from a strained lat and may not have enough time left to build up as a starter anyway.
Hamilton is close to returning from a strained lat. Effross is working off the rust from Tommy John surgery in Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, and Trivino just started doing the same at Double-A Somerset.
The Yankees loved the moxie Effross and Trivino showed after they were acquired via trade in 2022 and shed a pinstriped tear for both when they went down with serious elbow injuries.
The point is that the answers for the Yankees’ postseason pen may not be in the bullpen at all right now. They may be in the rotation, on the injured list, or in the minors. Six weeks to find out.
Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.