The vast majority of Yankees news this offseason has been filled with their success in trading for Juan Soto, and their failure in landing Yoshinobu Yamamoto. After that it has been a whole lot of news about potential starting pitching options to fill the void that the Yankees have in direct correlation with missing out on Yamamoto. But under the radar, intertwined in articles that have to do with big name players, come the smaller moves. For the Yankees this offseason, these smaller moves have consistently been focused on their bullpen, and though they haven't signed any big names (at least, not yet), they have signed pieces that are going to become great under pitching coach extraordinaire Matt Blake.
Blake has already unlocked the potential of many overlooked bullpen arms. Clay Holmes held a 4.93 ERA for the Pirates in 2021 before coming to the Yankees in the same year and immediately becoming one of the most dominant relievers in baseball. Blake wasn't the pitching coach yet but the next year under Blake, Holmes continued his streak of dominance. Keynan Middleton had a 3.97 ERA with the White Sox last year, which isn't terrible but when he came to the Yankees, he had a 1.88 ERA in 14.1 innings pitched. Michael King had a 3.55 ERA in 2021. Under Blake in 2022 and 2023, he was one of the most reliable relievers in baseball. These are just a few examples of what Blake has done. This offseason, the Yankees made an intelligent move in getting Victor Gonzalez in a trade with the Dodgers, who needed to create roster space after signing Shohei Ohtani. Gonzalez will be a solid replacement for Wandy Peralta who, for whatever reason, the Yankees are unwilling to re-sign. You have to think that Gonzalez will only get better under Blake. Recently, the Yankees made a trade with the Cleveland Guardians for reliever Cody Morris. Morris had a 6.75 ERA with the Guardians in 2023, but that is incredibly misleading. He has a fastball that reaches 96 mph and has one the nastiest changeups in baseball coming out of the same arm slot 13-15 mph slower. Morris is a project, but given his talent, he is someone who would appear to be a relatively easy fix for Matt Blake. Expect him to be a critical piece in this Yankees' bullpen in 2024. With these new pieces in mind, here is the 2024 projected bullpen so far:
1.Clay Holmes CP
2.Jonathon Loaisiga SU
3.Tommy Kahnle
4.Ian Hamilton
5.Scott Effross
6.Victor Gonzalez
7.Nick Ramirez
8.Ron Marinaccio
9.Matt Crook
10. Cody Morris
This bullpen is already great as it stands, and even greater than what it appears. Ian Hamilton came out of nowhere and was a strong arm for the Yankees last season. Scott Effross has been a consistently great reliever in his relatively short career with the Cubs and Yankees. He got injured with the Yankees in 2022 after posting a 2.13 ERA across 12.2 innings. He missed all of 2023 for Tommy John surgery. But Effross is one of those pitchers who has the pitching arsenal to have a long career. He features a pinpoint fastball that only reaches 91 mph, though plays faster because of his nasty sweeping slider. Tommy Kahnle and Nick Ramirez both had good years. There is really no weak link here. Even Matt Crook, despite his struggles in the big-league last year, still has great potential. Even so, here are the parts of the bullpen that need to be changed before the 2024 season:
Tommy Kahnle:
Tommy Kahnle had a good season in 2023 with a 2.66 ERA, but his age is starting to show. He will be 35 years old in 2024 and there were multiple occasions where his pitches were flat. Kahnle is becoming more and more of a risk, and if the Yankees want to have their best opportunity for success, they need to replace him. That replacement is Jordan Hicks, who has thrown 105 mph pitches in his career, and has a filthy slider that has about a 13-mph difference to his fastball. His pitches will never be flat, and he is only 27 years old.
Matt Crook:
The next guy that the Yankees need to replace is Matt Crook. This guy was an experiment for the Yankees in 2023, and he looks like a solid pitcher. He has a good slider from the left side and could be a very effective major league pitcher. The problem is that the Yankees already have finesse relievers form the left side with a lot of big-league experience in Nick Ramirez and Victor Gonzalez. The Yankees need to send Crook back to the minor leagues and use him as a potential backup in case Ramirez doesn't work out in 2024. To replace Crook in the bullpen, the Yankees should sign Josh Hader who will cost a good amount of money, though after the Yankees failure to sign Yamamoto, money shouldn't be a large issue.
Clarke Schmidt and Nick Ramirez:
The maximum amount of bullpen spots a club can carry is twelve and the Yankees have enough talented arms for that, but they shouldn't go above nine. If they did, they would be depleting their bench and the depth of the rest of their team. If the Yankees do what they should, they will have two new starting pitchers in their rotation. Unfortunately, there wouldn't be enough slots for Clarke Schmidt to join the bullpen, and there wouldn't be enough slots for Nick Ramirez to stay in the bullpen. Though Ramirez was good in 2023 with a 2.66 ERA, the Yankees already have a finesse lefty pitcher in Victor Gonzalez. The Yankees could send Ramirez to the minors as backup for any problems that go on throughout the season, and as an extra arm for the postseason. As for Schmidt, he has shown enough in the big leagues to be a decent trade piece. The Yankees should absolutely try to trade him.
Here is the possible bullpen for the Yankees in 2024:
1. Josh Hader CP
2. Clay Holmes SU
3. Jordan Hicks SU
4. Jonathon Loaisiga
5. Ian Hamilton
6. Scott Effross
7. Victor Gonzalez
8. Ron Marinaccio
9. Cody Morris
After constructing multiple articles, here's what the rest of the team could look like:
Potential Starting Rotation:
- Gerrit Cole
- Blake Snell
- Carlos Rodon
- Jordan Montgomery
- Nestor Cortes
Potential Lineup:
- Gleyber Torres 2B
- Juan Soto RF
- Aaron Judge CF
- Anthony Rizzo 1B
- JD Martinez DH
- Alex Verdugo LF
- Justin Turner 3B
- Austin Wells C
- Anthony Volpe SS
Bench:
DJ Lemahieu: 2B, 1B, 3B
Jose Trevino: C
Trent Grisham: CF, LF, RF
*Oswaldo Peraza should be sent down to better develop his hitting.
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