THE STARTER & THE RELIEVER

There are 2 Yankee nuggets out there this morning that I'm putting together in 1 post and it's because I can definitely get on board with the ideas these publications present. It's that simple... check it out.

FOX Sports (Actually Yankees go Yard, don't let them fool you) has a piece suggesting that maybe the Yankees could develop the newest Yankee pitcher, Dillon Tate, into a starter.  They write:

"New York Yankees pitching prospect Dillon Tate will return to a starting role in 2017 after working out of the bullpen in the second half of last season.

Dillon Tate has looked fantastic for the most part during his first six appearances in the 2016 Arizona Fall League. He’s struck out 11 and walked just one over 9.2 innings of work. He has allowed four earned runs on two homers, but has otherwise dominated opposing batters."

Now, Tate was always going to be a starter, or at least that was the plan when he was with the Rangers. Just to be clear, sometimes when prospects are traded, new teams see if there is another role that would work better to fit the team's needs. In this case, the Yankees were impressed with Tate enough to suggest that STARTER is where he needs to be right now.  I like that.

Then there is Luis Severino, who, as we all know was groomed to be a starter until he struggled mightily.  He was pushed back and forth between the Bronx and the minors until we recognized that he's a pretty big time reliever.  Elite Sports NY suggests... as do I, that that's a great idea... leave him there, develop him there and make him truly dominant!

They write: "Joe Girardi decided to throw the youngster into the bullpen — where he may have commenced his legacy as a dominant reliever.

In 23.1 innings of relief starting on July 27 against the Houston Astros, he has held opponents to a .105/.209/.158 slash line while maintaining a 0.39 ERA and striking out 25.

More impressively, his strikeout-per-nine ratio sat at 9.6 out of the ‘pen while his rate, as previously mentioned, was 7.7 as a starter. Additionally, he did not surrender a single home run while teams totaled just 12 total bases off him.

There are a few reasons, found by just by analyzing his outings, on why Severino is so filthy while coming out of the bullpen."

And so, quite honestly... why the hell would you tinker. KEEP HIM THERE. Confidence is key!

Anyway, 2 young Yankee pitchers... 2 more players to get excited about in 2017.  Just wanted to bring you those nuggets!

Happy Friday.