The New York Yankees might not be considered as favorites to win the AL East this season but there’s no question the team is poised to have a very good campaign. With Masahiro Tanaka headlining the rotation and players like Mark Teixeira, Alex Rodriguez and Starlin Castro on their everyday lineup they have enough offense to put with any opponent.
Joe Girardi’s biggest strength, however, will be the bullpen as the entire unit has the potential to have a historical season.
According to the Yankees’ official website this is their depth chart in the bullpen as of March 10th:
– Jacob Lindgren
– Nick Goody
– Vicente Campos
– James Pazos
– Nick Rumbelow
– Chasen Shreve
– Branden Pinder
– Dellin Betances
– Andrew Miller
– Aroldis Chapman (closer)
There are some serious flamethrowers in that group and while most of these names won’t be recognizable for the average fan, the Yankees are set to have one of the deepest bullpens in the Majors.
While some players have either limited data or no experience at all at the MLB level, there are some pretty interesting pieces that could either work as middle relief or in specific situations. Shreve averaged more than one strikeout per inning and finished with a 3.09 ERA in 2015, Branden Pinder had a 2.93 ERA in 27.2 IP and Jacob Lindgren also showed some premise with eight strikeouts in seven innings as last year.
The biggest threats, however, are the three players slated to handle the back of the bullpen duties: Betances, Miller and Chapman are expected to become the team’s primary arms when it comes to close games out and they should make things tough on opposing hitters.
Chapman arrived to the franchise this season in a trade with the Cincinnati Reds and while he’ll be suspended for the first 30 games of 2016 as a punishment for violating the league’s domestic violence policy, there’s no question the Cuban will be the closer as soon as he’s eligible to step on the mound in May 9th. The 28-year-old has a 2.17 ERA in his career and has 546 strikeouts in only 319 IP.
His career WHIP is an astonishing 1.02 and as if the numbers weren’t enough, he also has the record for the fastest pitch ever at the MLB level.
That’s some serious heat but Chapman isn’t the only threatening arm.
Andrew Miller was the team’s closer in 2015 and while he did a very good job (2.04 ERA and 36 SV to go along with a 0.86 WHIP) he’s much better suited for a setup role. The former Boston Red Sox arm has a 4.59 ERA for his career and he averaged 16.4 K/9 in 2015. He’s averaged more than 10 punchouts per nine innings in each of the last five seasons and there’s no reason to think he won’t sustain that pace since he’s only 30 years old.
Dellin Betances is the less known player of this trio but he also showed a proven ability to miss bats while also showing an incredible durability for a player that throws so hard. After posting a 10.80 ERA in six games during 2013 he came out of nowhere to dominate the last two seasons. Betances has averaged a 1.45 ERA in the 2014-15 span while also throwing 174 innings. To top things off he averaged 14 K/9 and it seems he’s only scratching the surface of his potential.
If the Yankees want to make some noise in an ultra competitive AL East they will have to be clicking at all cylinders and the offense needs to show up on a consistent basis The bullpen, however, will certainly ease things off as Girardi will have the luxury of three closer-like arms to choose when things get tough in close games while probably setting historical marks in the process.