Wayne Franklin; Buddy Groom; Welcome to the Yankees "Secondary Bullpen"
Well, the excitement over the "First Place Yankees" was short lived, thanks in part to the Yankees very unreliable "secondary bullpen". The Yankees, as does every team (not including Tampa Bay and Colorado, because I'm referring to Major League teams) has their 'go-to' guys in the bullpen. The Yankees have been able to rely on Tanyon Sturtze (3-1, 3.76 ERA), Tom Gordon (3-3, 2.78), and especially Mariano Rivera (4-2, 0.91, 24 consecutive saves). After the 'go-to' guys there are specialists and other setup men.
When the reliable setup men and closers are unavailable that forces a team to use what I like to call "The Secondary Bullpen", the pitchers you only use on second thought without other options. Now some teams manage to have it that both bullpens are reliable and they alternate and mix-and-match based on the game and situation, however, others only manage to have one reliable set of pitchers then the unreliable set. The Yankees for the past number of seasons have had a secondary bullpen that no fan felt comfortable with. Manager Joe Torre did not feel comfortable with them either, however he was and is forced to use them far to often because the starting pitching has not been able to go far enough into games.
The reliable bullpen last season of Gordon, Rivera and Paul Quantrill finished 1, 2, and 3 in the league in games played by a relief pitcher. This season all three pitchers in the "First Bullpen" have pitched in far more games than most of the relief pitchers in the league. Whether Torre wants to or not, he must rest these V-I-Pitchers. When they do rest, the starting pitching still does not go long enough and Torre is forced to use the secondary guys.
The real question at this point in the season for Yankees fans is; Why? Why do the Yankees even have guys like Groom, Franklin, and Proctor. Why with a 200 million plus payroll, does the team not have the necessary components to take a close ballgame? It has been this way for a number of seasons now. Throw Felix Heredia, C.J. Nitkowski, Gabe White, Jason Anderson, Antonio Osuna and Dan Miceli, and you have one of the worst "Secondary Bullpens" in the American league the past two and a half seasons.
One can sit and speculate as to what to do, write commentaries and articles (which is what I am doing) but all that we can really do is sit back and watch as these no-good pitchers roll their way in one door and out the other, passing through the Yankee experience Pitcher experimentation Lab (the mound at Yankee Stadium) on the way. One after the other, failure after failure, hit after hit, walk after walk, blown saves and losses.
What will this team do with this sort of bullpen when and if they make it to the playoffs? Only good teams are in the playoffs and usually a good team will have hitters that can hit off of bad pitchers. What the Yankees must do is get out there in the next 10 days and vigorously pursue trades with teams that have the players to help out the Yankees bullpen. Cleveland, Cincinnati, Seattle, Minnesota, and San Francisco are all teams that have bullpen and can afford to give some up for the right trade. I fully expect the Yankees to add at least one bullpen pitcher before the trade deadline.
When the reliable setup men and closers are unavailable that forces a team to use what I like to call "The Secondary Bullpen", the pitchers you only use on second thought without other options. Now some teams manage to have it that both bullpens are reliable and they alternate and mix-and-match based on the game and situation, however, others only manage to have one reliable set of pitchers then the unreliable set. The Yankees for the past number of seasons have had a secondary bullpen that no fan felt comfortable with. Manager Joe Torre did not feel comfortable with them either, however he was and is forced to use them far to often because the starting pitching has not been able to go far enough into games.
The reliable bullpen last season of Gordon, Rivera and Paul Quantrill finished 1, 2, and 3 in the league in games played by a relief pitcher. This season all three pitchers in the "First Bullpen" have pitched in far more games than most of the relief pitchers in the league. Whether Torre wants to or not, he must rest these V-I-Pitchers. When they do rest, the starting pitching still does not go long enough and Torre is forced to use the secondary guys.
The real question at this point in the season for Yankees fans is; Why? Why do the Yankees even have guys like Groom, Franklin, and Proctor. Why with a 200 million plus payroll, does the team not have the necessary components to take a close ballgame? It has been this way for a number of seasons now. Throw Felix Heredia, C.J. Nitkowski, Gabe White, Jason Anderson, Antonio Osuna and Dan Miceli, and you have one of the worst "Secondary Bullpens" in the American league the past two and a half seasons.
One can sit and speculate as to what to do, write commentaries and articles (which is what I am doing) but all that we can really do is sit back and watch as these no-good pitchers roll their way in one door and out the other, passing through the Yankee experience Pitcher experimentation Lab (the mound at Yankee Stadium) on the way. One after the other, failure after failure, hit after hit, walk after walk, blown saves and losses.
What will this team do with this sort of bullpen when and if they make it to the playoffs? Only good teams are in the playoffs and usually a good team will have hitters that can hit off of bad pitchers. What the Yankees must do is get out there in the next 10 days and vigorously pursue trades with teams that have the players to help out the Yankees bullpen. Cleveland, Cincinnati, Seattle, Minnesota, and San Francisco are all teams that have bullpen and can afford to give some up for the right trade. I fully expect the Yankees to add at least one bullpen pitcher before the trade deadline.
posted by Levi M. at 9:15 AM
1 Comments:
Wayne Franklin has been demoted to triple-A where he will feel more at home amongst other pitchers that cannot record an out.
Post a Comment
<< Home