Archive for Yankees

Although it’s never assured, it appears Anthony Bass assumed the role of interim closer in Seattle until Hunter Strickland returns. Of course, with the Mariners only winning seven games in May, it may not be a booming position to hold. Pressed into duty in the eighth inning with the bases loaded, Bass induced an out to left field by Jonathan Lucroy. Bass then returned for the ninth retiring the side in order with two strikeouts for his first save this season, the fourth of his career and first since 2014. Since joining Seattle, Bass owns six strikeouts, with no walks, a 1.47 ERA and 0.63 WHIP in five outings spanning 6.1 innings. Read the rest of this entry »

When trying to predict the machinations of the Phillies bullpen, it’s frustrating. Gabe Kapler’s very public about his disregard for traditional bullpen roles, so investing in any reliever on his team will accompany ups and downs. One day removed from Hector Neris notching his first save in a clean outing, Pat Neshek faced the Nationals at home with the save opportunity. Seranthony Dominguez turned in a clean sixth inning and garnered the win in relief with a strikeout. Adam Morgan notched his fourth hold with a clean seventh and a strikeout. David Robertson worked around a Victor Robles single and struck out one in the eight. Neshek did record his first save of the year, but allowed a home run to Brian Dozier along with a double to Anthony Rendon. Through 5.2 innings this year, Neshek owns a 1.59 ERA and 0.88 WHIP, but the average exit velocity of his five balls in play last night, 96.9 MPH. There’s no clear reliever to own in this bullpen, so target accordingly. Read the rest of this entry »

The Yankees have seemingly endured a season’s worth of hardships in less than a week, but through their first four games, they didn’t have to worry about Aroldis Chapman. He tossed scoreless innings in each of his first two appearances, but in Tuesday night’s game against the Tigers, Chapman was at the center of the drama.

Not able to muster much offense against Jordan Zimmermann, Daniel Stumpf and Joe Jimenez, the Yankees found themselves knotted with the Tigers at 1-1 heading into the top of the ninth. Chapman entered the game and started off well enough, striking out John Hicks on three pitches. The tide turned quickly, though, as he walked Niko Goodrum and then allowed a first-pitch RBI double to Dustin Peterson. Chapman would give up two more singles in the inning, including a Jordy Mercer hit that brought in Peterson.
Read the rest of this entry »

Need reinforcements for a team that is off to a rough start or beset by injuries? You’ve got something in common with the Yankees.

Entering their three-game series with the Tigers on Monday, the Yankees found themselves short-handed, adding Giancarlo Stanton (strained biceps) and Miguel Andujar (shoulder, labrum tear) to an already crowded injured list. They called up Clint Frazier and Tyler Wade to take their places on the roster. Much to the chagrin of Alex Chamberlain, Frazier — and not the recently-acquired Mike Tauchman — is expected to be the main playing time beneficiary during Stanton’s absence. Wade, on the other hand, will fall behind DJ LeMahieu on the third base depth chart.
Read the rest of this entry »

The other day, my wife asked me what my next column was going to be about, and I told her it would be my annual Bold Predictions piece. She wanted to contribute a prediction, and when I asked her what it would be, I realized it would be the perfect addition to this column.

So the first-ever Bold Prediction for Mary Beth Melchior is this: J.T. Realmuto will break the all-time single-season record for home runs for a catcher.
Read the rest of this entry »

Note: As was the case in a previous analysis of Statcast measures and their correlation with power metrics for hitters, I owe a debt of gratitude to Alex Chamberlain. He did a lot of heavy lifting for this column, running the correlations and discussing interpretations with me.

It won’t be the first or last time, but I did a silly thing on Twitter. In announcing a pick for the Pitcher List Experts Mock, I decided to tout the player I chose by citing one of his achievements, as captured by a Statcast metric.

Fun fact: Trevor Williams has the 3rd-lowest avg. exit velocity allowed on flies and liners over the last two seasons (min. 400 BBE), behind only deGrom and Kluber. Just took him in Rd 21 of the #PLExpertsMock. @JustinMasonFWFB, you’re up!

— Al Melchior (@almelchiorBB) December 13, 2018

(Justin, by the way, made his pick very promptly.)
Read the rest of this entry »

Although most of the focus within this column caters to the saves chasers, with just over a week remaining in the season, teams will need to protect ratios as well. Owners of Josh Hader realize this through the value he provides in strikeouts and his ERA which dropped below two last night along with his 0.74 WHIP in 77 innings this season. Hader’s been a heater but his consecutive strikeout streak ended on Friday when Colin Moran lifted a pop fly to left field caught by Christian Yelich. However, Hader recorded 16 straight outs via strikeout over five outings to set a major league record. He also set a record for all southpaw relievers for strikeouts in a season with 136 so far with a chance to add to this in Milwaukee’s last eight contests. In September, Hader’s registered a strikeout minus walk percentage of 60, produced a 24.2 swinging strike percentage and allowed only 54.4 contact through 10 innings with a ridiculous 23:2 K:BB with a 0.50 WHIP. A different southpaw remains on the waiver wire in many leagues due to his lack of saves production, but Taylor Rogers extended his scoreless streak to 23.1 innings in Oakland last night. Since July 30th, spanning 25 games, Rogers has faced 80 hitters giving up only nine hits and three walks with 27 strikeouts. Yes, saves matter, but so do southpaws like these two who can ratio erasers to preserve spots in the standings. Read the rest of this entry »

In Thursday morning’s Bullpen Report, Greg Jewett noted that the just-activated Aroldis Chapman was going to get eased back into the closer’s role for the Yankees. In his first appearance in nearly a month, Chapman came in to pitch the eighth inning with a two-run deficit against the Red Sox on Thursday night, but there was nothing about it that looked like “easing.” His first pitch resulted in a Rafael Devers line drive single, and two batters later, Devers moved into scoring position on a Jackie Bradley Jr. walk. After striking out the struggling Sandy Leon, Chapman put the Yankees three more runs in the hole by serving up a slider that Mookie Betts turned on for a home run.
Read the rest of this entry »

It was Zach Britton, and not Dellin Betances, who got the save for the Yankees in their 3-2 win over the Red Sox in Tuesday night’s series opener. I have made Britton and Betances co-closers in the grid below, with both receiving the “Hot Seat” label. However, it’s not Britton’s adventure of an inning or Betances’ recent struggles that have put them on the hot seat, but rather that Aroldis Chapman could return as soon as Wednesday. It appears that Chapman’s worst-case scenario is a Thursday return, in the event that Aaron Boone wants to give the lefty an additional day of rest following Monday’s sim game.
Read the rest of this entry »

Welcome to September as the marathon reaches its final stage. An encouraging outing by Kenley Jansen notching his first save since August seventh. Jansen needed to survive the heart of the Diamondbacks order and only yielded a double to Paul Goldschmidt of the four batters he faced including striking out the red hot David Peralta. As for Jansen, he’s stopped taking the medication which made him feel like he was “sleepwalking”, which may not be in the best interest of his health with a heart condition, but Jansen snapped a four outing streak of allowing a run in each with last night’s scoreless save. Jansen’s shown the ability to overcome a slow start in April to surge, so his owners will hope for a similar bounce back in September. Los Angeles did add veteran Ryan Madson in a waivers trade and plan on deploying him in high leverage to lead up to Jansen. Bullpen evolution never ceases.

A return to the ninth inning for veteran David Robertson who converted his fifth save of the season, and second in his last three outings. He’s made three consecutive scoreless appearances with seven strikeouts, two walks and one hit allowed in them. Robertson also finished August without ceding an earned run in 11.2 innings, but did give up three unearned in them. With Dellin Betances under the microscope after serving up back-to-back home runs in Thursday’s loss, the closer by committee to fill-in for Aroldis Chapman should continue. However, do note, Zach Britton’s last save was a week ago and he’s been working in a set-up role since. While the Yankees intimated a three-headed closer timeshare could ensue, it’s been Robertson and Betances in the ninth the last seven days. Read the rest of this entry »