ULTIMATE WEAPEN!
Yanks have stacked stable of relievers poised to finish job
SHORTLY before noon Tuesday — about 32 hours prior to first pitch of sudden death — Aaron Boone removed the great mystery around the Yankees.
Luis Severino will start Wednesday’s wild-card game against the A’s.
The Yankees manager was nebulous about the brew of information that led to Severino over Masahiro Tanaka and, especially, J.A. Happ. Most revealing though was this from Boone: “When he’s pitching at his best, I believe he will be the best pitcher on the field [Wednesday].”
Severino provides the greatest chance for lockdown stuff in Boone’s estimation, the opportunity to look up in the sixth or seventh inning and have a Madison Bumgarner October moment going. But my gut is Severino will be told he is not a marathoner for t hi s game, that he will be counseled to go as hard and as far as he can.
If that is six or seven innings, great. But if it is three or four highend frames, fine, also. The Yankees essentially assembled a relief cast akin to Ocean’s Eleven for many reasons, but none more than to pitch just this kind of win-or-gohome game. And even Boone noted, “Hopefully, with Sevy, he pitches deep into the game. But with our bullpen and what is at our disposal, we’ll be very aggressive in making moves and setting up the best matchups depending on the game.”
This wild-card game, in fact, is the next-step outcome to where the game has been trending. Boone will be on red alert from the outcome to unleash his closer-heavy bullpen versus the A’s pen — literally, their whole pen.
Oakland did not have a Happ versus Severino type choice. So, the A’s are starting Liam Hendriks, a reliever they designated for assignment on June 25. They will have 11 pitch- ers for this game, 10 are relievers plus Edwin Jackson, who is mainly for extra-inning protection.
The A’s have a few big-name relievers such as in-season acquisitions Jeurys Familia and Fernando Rodney, plus in Blake Treinen, a 2018 All-Star whose renown is g rowing fol - lowing one of the great pen seasons ever. But as effective as this group has been — and in the second half, it was the best in the majors — it is an independent movie assemblage compared to that of the Yankees. In public perception this is Steve Buscemi versus Matt Damon.
That adds a layer of pressure on the Yankees, who already are home and are, you know, the Yankees. This Yankee bullpen amassed 9.7 Wins Above Replacement, the most ever in Fan Graphs tracking. The pen averaged 11.4 strikeouts per nine innings, the highest ever. It should be noted that the 2017 Yankee pen had the second-best WAR ever going into last postseason and the strikeout-pernine record. That was good enough to get the Yanks to ALCS Game 7, but not a championship.
It clearly was the difference in the wild-card game last year, when Severino lasted just one out and surrendered three runs. Chad Green, David Robertson, Tommy Kahnle and Aroldis Chapman allowed just one more run over 8 ²/₃ innings and the Yankees beat the Twins 8-4.
Brian Cashman, the architect of this pen, insists it came together organically and not with October heavily in mind, just an attempt like any area to keep adding as many good players as possible. The Yankees GM said only the late-July addition of Zach Britton was with the postseason in mind.
As Green said, “I think especially when you’ve got a guy like Britton, they’ve been preparing for this [the playoffs] the entire time. They had this in mind in July. I think when you put four guys with closing experience in the back of the bullpen, and some of those guys can throw multiples [innings], I think it gives us a lot of depth. I think we’re kind of built for the playoff scenario, the ‘Play, off day, play a couple of days, off day,’ our bullpen is kind of built for that time.”
We will find that out now, most importantly Wednesday. Cashman said the Yanks obtained Britton, in part concerned they would not find an ace and, thus, would need even more strong pen arms to navigate October. The Yanks actually landed a starter who performed like an ace in Happ, yet still decided to go with Severino in the sudden death.
Well, Severino, and this pen, which totaled those overall strong numbers, but also has seen Britton, Chapman and Dellin Betances fight their control at times and Green and Robertson be troubled by the long ball on occasion.
Which version shows up Wednesday night in support of Severino? That is now the great mystery for the 2018 Yankees.