Yanks Using Ohley All Wrong

Yanks Using Ohley All Wrong

By default so far this season, the Yanks have been using Russ Ohlendorf as the long man out of the 'pen. This is a big mistake - Ohley is being misused by Girardi and Co. and would be far more effective being used as a short man.

When the Yanks got Ohley from the Diamondbacks for the Tiny Unit he was a AA starter. His K rate had declined dramatically from the year before, but the Yanks started him at AAA anyway. He proceeded to get bombed.

In order to get his head straight the Yanks moved him into the AAA bullpen where he almost immediately gained 4-6 MPH on his fastball and was seemingly a different pitcher.

Ohley's brief Major League career has been a tale of 2 pitchers - when pitching less than 2 innings Ohley has logged 9.1 innings allowing only 3 ER and striking out 14. When asked to go to 2 innings or beyond he has allowed 10 ER in 13 IP.

What we need to do is begin grooming Ohley to take over for Joba once he moves to the rotation. Move him into the slot just behind Joba for now and let him start to gain confidence in the role he is best at. In order to allow Ross to be limited to 1 inning, the Yanks need to call up Darrell Rasner who has been lights out in AAA this year to be the long man/spot starter.

Hopefully General Joe recognizes that Ohlendorf is being used the wrong way and corrects this quickly.