THAT YANKEE BULLPEN MAGIC

When I am so unsure why someone does something irrational or in a way that has no true reasonable outcome, I ask a very simple question, “Help me to understand why…” So, here’s my question to Joe Girardi and perhaps the Yankee management: “Help me to understand why you are messing with the bullpen magic that got us through the first half of the season?”

 
Last season, we all knew who was coming out in the 8th and 9th, in most save situations. Since the All Star Break, it’s like anything goes. I can’t predict what Joe will do next. Now, I love Dellin Betances in the 7th and 8th innings and David Robertson has shown consistency in his role as a closer. He is 26/28 in save opportunities and he is projected to have 41 saves this season according to ESPN. But when they start messing up the magic with guys like Shawn Kelley and David Huff and then go to a young starter, like Chase Whitley from the pen, I start to get concerned because of how the Yankees ruined the opportunities for Joba Chamberlain and Phil Hughes. They started messing with them, putting them into situations that they were not prepared, perhaps mentally more than physically. “Whitley, 25, was a career reliever before being converted to a starter at Triple-A this season. He, too, started off strong, but struggled in his final few starts before throwing six shutout innings in his last start against Texas on Tuesday,” according NJ.com yesterday. 

 
Shawn Kelley does not have what it takes. I am just not impressed. I am also not impressed with Huff and frankly, the management called on Chris Capuano to take on too much, too soon, in an important division game against Toronto this past weekend. Sure, he has been a starter in the past, but in more recent times with the Red Sox, he has worked out of the bullpen. Was he really stretched out enough to start? And Chase Whitley, who was a golden child just a month ago, is cast into the bullpen. He should have started despite his spike in ERA over the last six starts rendering him three losses, two no decisions and one win. The two no decisions, by the way, ended up as wins for the Yankees. 

 
They gave guys like Hughes infinite opportunities, but Whitely gets two or three. And don’t forget the naysayers. Our number pitcher right now is David Phelps. Many believed he couldn’t hack it as a starter. He made believers out of most of you. The current starting rotation, I think, is Phelps, Brandon McCarthy, Hiroki Kuroda, Shane Greene, and perhaps Chris Capuano. Does this mean Whitley is out? And by way, don’t need a period of gelling? I mean, we just put together a starting rotation after, man after man went down.

 
So, what’s my point? I think the Yankees are trying to put too many people into the mix and rotating too many people, too quickly. I am afraid they will hurt the bullpen magic that has frankly gotten us to this point. Guys like Adam Warren, Matt Thornton, Dellin Betances and D’Rob can do the job consistently. I realize that it’s all hands on deck some days, but if our starters can get us to six innings, then the rest can be handled by a select few. Let’s keep that bullpen magic healthy and keep our starters where they belong.

--Suzie Pinstripe, BYB Senior Staff Writer
Twitter: @suzieprof


   
 
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