Yankees' pitching puzzle fits perfectly, at least for one night
Nestor Cortes of the Yankees pitches during the first inning against the Boston Red Sox at Yankee Stadium on Thursday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
Amid the creeping anxiety involving the Yankees’ pitching staff, with some playoff roles as yet undetermined, consider Thursday night’s 2-1, 10-inning victory over the Red Sox their moment of Zen.
Nestor Cortes, back from his quickie bullpen sabbatical in Chicago, supplied a solid five innings (nine strikeouts) and manager Aaron Boone, still test-driving a number of relief spots — including closer — dialed up the A-version of Clay Holmes, who stranded the ghost runner in the 10th to secure the Yankees’ second straight extra-inning win.
With Luke Weaver and Jake Cousins unavailable — Boone’s top two high-leverage relievers — the pivotal spot went to the shaky Holmes, who entered to boos from the Bronx crowd as he trotted in from the bullpen. But Holmes needed just six pitches for the final two outs, a grounder to third and a fly ball to left, then left to a standing ovation.
“Obviously you want to come through,” said Holmes, who leads the majors with 12 blown saves. “And winning here is special.”
As for Cortes, he retracted his discontent from the weekend about getting bounced from the rotation. There’s a good chance he’s headed to the bullpen for October — the Yankees could use his help in relief — but Cortes pitched Thursday like he deserved to stay put, allowing one run on three hits. He’s now 4-0 with a 1.85 ERA in his last six appearances, including five starts.
“I’m just trying to go out here and throw as many zeros as I can,” Cortes said. “I know last week, I might have come off like I was asking for too much, but I got my point across. And at the end of the day, I’m going to do whatever this team needs for me to do to win.”
Knowing all this, I asked pitching coach Matt Blake before Thursday’s game about the daunting challenge ahead, along with the process already underway, one that really began last Saturday when Cortes — the Yankees’ Opening Day starter — was bounced to the bullpen to follow the returning Clarke Schmidt.
Plainly put, it’s a puzzle, only with various pieces potentially fitting in a number of holes, so I used the term “complicated” to describe the Yankees’ pitching scenario. Blake chose another adjective.
“I’d say a convoluted situation,” Blake said. “Where there’s moving parts in the rotation, there’s moving parts in the bullpen. There’s evolving roles, and we just need to be clear with our communication with the guys. Because as much as we can say the best role is this, they need to understand why that’s the best role and where they’re going to end up. To understand the mental aspect of changing roles, and different innings or different situations.”
As for who’s going where, this is something the Yankees’ decision-makers don’t even know for sure quite yet. They have an idea, based on what they’ve seen: Schmidt and Luis Gil shining last weekend against the Cubs, Cortes expertly handing a relief stint, Holmes flunking out of the closer’s role.
But the Yankees also have 15 more games to evaluate the pitching staff, too. From a rotation standpoint, the Yankees have the reigning Cy Young winner in Gerrit Cole, and are virtually guaranteed to follow with Carlos Rodon. Beyond that, however, Schmidt seems to hold the edge over Gil, Cortes and Marcus Stroman at No. 3.
How much can performance over these next two weeks impact these alignments? I put that question to Boone before Cortes’ start Thursday. Schmidt will make his second start since a three-month stay on the IL (lat strain) Friday against Boston.
“We’ll let those things play out and try to make the best decisions we can to put guys in positions to be successful,” Boone said. “That’s where the focus is.”
Schmidt was pitching like an ace before the May injury derailed his season, with a 2.52 ERA and 67 strikeouts in 60 2⁄3 innings over 11 starts. The Yankees saw signs of that again Saturday with his 4 2⁄3 scoreless innings against the Cubs, but he’s only up to 75 pitches, and still considered to be in the building-arm-strength stage. Schmidt does have bullpen experience, with 30 relief appearances over his previous four seasons, but he’s too tempting in the rotation. Gil, who just returned from a lower back strain, fits this category as well. Despite his midseason blip, he’s still 13-6 with a 3.18 ERA and 10.3 K/9 rate.
It’s also a matter of how much the Yankees believe their bullpen requires shoring up, because Boone is getting precariously short on reliable options. Other than Luke Weaver, who’s now the de facto closer, there’s way too many questions marks. Schmidt would be a huge multi-inning boost, and perhaps Gil in quick bursts.
The Yankees have a few more pressing things to worry about before October. Namely holding off the Orioles for the division crown, so they can avoid burning any of their top arms in a wild-card round. But Boone & Co. will be in the playoffs regardless.
They’re just a long way from figuring out the pitching puzzle yet, and how to best use this staff once they get there.
David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.
