The Yankees have seen quite a few changes this season. We've got the Baby Bombers- Tyler Austin, Aaron Judge, Gary Sanchez. We now know that this will be Mark Teixeira's last season, and we've seen the exit of Alex Rodriguez. Most interesting to me, and honestly the most gratifying, is the rise of Dellin Betances as closer.
I'm not even going to pretend to be neutral in this. I am a huge Betances fan. It was just over two years ago when I dubbed him THE NEXT HOMETOWN HERO. I have been rooting for him for a long time. He's the boy from Washington Heights, that achieved what many New York City boys, and girls, have only dreamed about. So, yea... The Brooklyn Girl in me, who grew up with the unrealistic dream of playing for the Yankees, is rooting for him extra hard.
This season started with the big three out of the bullpen - Betances, Andrew Miller, and Aroldis Chapman. The trio started the season as the three best closers in the league. But, it left a lot of questions, at least for me. I really enjoyed the set-up man/closer rhythm that Miller and Betances had worked out last season. The addition of Chapman made it undoubtedly more threatening, but really, we had three closers on the roster. Someone, at some point, had to be moved.
To me, it was always obvious that Betances would eventually be our permanent closer. He has more than risen to the occasion since Miller and Chapman were both traded away. In 14 save opportunities, Betances has 10 saves, with a 2.41 era over the entire course of the season, thus far.
The September 9th game against the Rays is possibly one of my favorite shows of his talent and determination. After a long rain delay, Betances insisted on being given the opportunity to get the last out to win the game. The Yankees were up 7 - 4, with two on, and Brad Miller had a 2 - 2 count. The umps called for the rain delay. 51 mins later, Betances came in to strike out Miller. He gave up one run, before getting the last out to win the game. Of that situation, Betances said "I wasn't coming out of that game. It was going to be pretty hard for me to come out. I got myself into that situation, so I'm trying to do whatever I can to stay loose and make sure that I'm ready to go."
Again, I'm completely bias when it comes to Betances. So it makes me really happy that he is getting a shot to prove his chops as closer. I'd like to think that given the chance at closer for the entire season, his era and saves would be much more impressive. When Mariano Rivera left, we all screamed that there would never be another, and there won't be. Mo was absolutely one of his kind. An icon and a treasure. But, maybe we don't need another Mo.
Betances is phenomenal in his own right. He has the ability, the talent, and the grit to be an incredible closer. If given the chance, I could easily see him pulling 30 or 40 saves a season. I might be underselling him on that estimate, honestly. Betances is that good.
Betances is phenomenal in his own right. He has the ability, the talent, and the grit to be an incredible closer. If given the chance, I could easily see him pulling 30 or 40 saves a season. I might be underselling him on that estimate, honestly. Betances is that good.
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