It ain’t easy.... Using Green
CHAD Green provides both weapon and puzzle for Joe Girardi. The second-year pitcher has been the Yankees’ best reliever this year — an unexpected blessing for Girardi.
But how early does he go to him in a game? For how long? How often? Is it better to use him for two or more innings twice a week or shorten the outings and have Green more frequently?
Girardi appears to have settled on:
1) Get him in early to a winnable game when the Yankees manager believes he has a shaky starter about to encounter a lineup for the third time (Entering Thursday, Green entered in the sixth inning or earlier in 11 of his previous 14 outings).
2) Use him for multiple innings (Green has gotten “only” three outs once in his last 14 outings). His 28 relief appearances getting at least four outs is second in the majors this year.
3) Deploy him roughly twice a week, which is how Green could be 37th in the majors in relief i nnings (62 ¹ /₃), but 189th in relief appearances (34).
In three of his previous four outings, Green actually earned a win because Girardi has so quickly hooked a shaky starter before he qualified for a victory. Girardi is not only react- ing to the urgency of the moment as the Yankees try to assure a playoff spot while also attempting to catch the Red Sox. But if you know it or not, Girardi is striving to capitalize on a historically elite relief season.
The following numbers are based on just Green’s relief work this year (so not counting his one two-inning start) and use Baseball Reference’s database covering the Live Ball Era (since 1920). Among relievers with at least 60 innings, Green’s .145 batting average against was the 12th best in that period.
Craig Kimbrel has the best mark at .126 in 2012 and, at .137, was the only pitcher in 2017 better than Green. I was struck in doing the research that Armando Benitez in 1999 and 2000 was at .148 for the Mets both years, tied for the 17thbest mark.
Green’s .706 WHIP was 11th best. Koji Uehara (.565) for the 2013 championship Red Sox is the best and, again, only Kimbrel (.667) was better than Green this year. Mariano Rivera in 2008 (.665) is fourth, Andrew Miller splitting his time with the Yankees and Indians last year (.686) is eighth.
Green’s 13.86 strikeouts per nine innings were the 28th-best mark since 1920 and fourth this year behind Kimbrel’s current record of 16.8 (have you noticed the year the Boston closer is having?), Corey Knebel’s 15.22 and Kenley Jansen’s 14.5.
Baseball Reference’s data for OPS against tracks to 1930. Since then, Green’s .447 is 16th best, second this year to only Kimbrel’s
.430.
Will Green maintain this for another few weeks to lock his place high on these lists? Will he — if the Yankees get there — translate this dominance into the postseason? Will he be like Kimbrel, Rivera, Jansen and Aroldis Chapman and be able to rank high in these categories historically year after year?
That falls in the “to be determined” bucket. For now, though, Green is having a historic season, and Girardi is going to maximize the righty’s impact. HARDBALL