This year the bullpen is perhaps more up in the air then it has ever been and I believe it will be a rough year for the pen. I have always believed that a strong pen depended on two factors- a strong closer and a strong starting staff. If you look around the league there are a couple of middle inning guys who perform well year in and year out, but mostly you have a lot of variation in their performance from one year to the next. This is due mostly to them being overexposed. Lights-out relievers end up being closers and the rest are very comparable. If you continually put relievers in the right situations they can have success; however if they are asked to perform more then they are capable of they flop( think of Farnworth whenever he is asked to close).
So this brings me to the current Yankee team. We have the strong closer that will save our middle guys from real big spots late but we have a starting staff that will have to be babied. Three pitchers who will have to be held under 200 innings is a death sentence to our pen. So what do we do? You can expect a couple of casualties because of the innings limitations set on the big three so the goal is to protect the guys with the most upside. So let's break the candidates down into three categories
The Vets
- Rivera
- Hawkins
- Farnsworth
Fillers/NonProspects
- Jose Veras
- T.J. Beam
- Chris Britton
- Brian Bruney
- Matt DeSalvo
- Sean Henn
- Darrell Rasner
- Kei Igawa
Legit Prospects
- Alan Horne
- Jeff Karstens
- Jeff Marquez
- Ross Ohlendorf
- Scott Patterson
- Edwar Ramirez
- Steven White
- Chase Wright
- Jonathan Albaladejo
- Humberto Sanchez
- Mark Melancon
Best April/May Bullpen
- Closer- Mo
- 7th/8th- Hawkins/Fansworth
- 6th -Ohlendorff, Veras
- Long Relief-Edwar, Igawa
The two guys you abuse in this bullpen is Veras and Igawa. Igawa can absorb a bunch of innings and Veras can be the guy who gets a lot of one inning fill appearances. The goal here is to ease Edwar and Ohley into their roles putting them in situations where they can succeed.
Best Midseason Bullpen- Closer- Mo
- 7th/8th- Ohlendorff,Fansworth
- 6th -Hawkins, Bruney
- Long Relief-Edwar, Rasner
By midseason the Yankees should look to increase Ohlendorf's role while still protecting Edwar. Edwar is a reliever with a lot of upside but he is going to really have to be watched closely. Bruney and Rasner become our fall guys with this pen.
Best Late Season/Future Bullpen
- Closer- Mo
- 7th/8th- Ohlendorf,Fansworth
- 6th -Edwar, Hawkins
- Long Relief-Marquez, Melancon
As we prepare for the postseason we setup the bullpen with the best chance in the bullpen and introduce the fresh arms and high upside of Marquez and Melancon. Edwar has now been eased into a role with more impact and Hawkins is still in the mix but in the middle innings not the final bridge to Mo.
