What To Do With Alfredo Aceves and Brian Bruney?

The past two games saw the Yankees bring in Brian Bruney and Alfredo Aceves out of the bullpen. Those two appearances were not confidence-inspiring as both players looked like shells of their former selves. So what happened with these two? They may both be injured and hiding injuries knowing that when they recover, they may not have a job. They may both have been flukes and have settled into their normal play. Or maybe it's something else.

Let's first look at Alfredo Aceves. "Ace" pitched 30 innings last season and finished with a 2.40 ERA and a WHIP of 1.167. Inexplicably, the Yankees left him off the opening day roster and let him toil in the minors until the beginning of May. Then, in his first appearance of the season on May 4th against Boston, they threw him for 70 pitches in a relief appearance. From there the Yankees used him in almost ever role: long reliever, middle relief, righty specialist, set-up man, mop-up man, even closer for a game. Since his first outing he had compiled a 1.77 ERA in 20 games, giving up less than a baserunner an inning in 35.2 innings and holding opponents to a .589 OPS against.

And then, on July 9th, they decided to give him a spot start against Minnesota. He wouldn't pitch again until July 18th and since hasn't been the same pitcher. Since they made him a starter for a day, his ERA has ballooned to 5.89 in 36.2 innings with opponents posting a .713 OPS against.

For the season Ace is 10-1 with a 3.87 ERA, 1.070 WHIP with 1 blown save, 1 save, and 5 holds. Clearly, he has not been the same pitcher since his spot start. He had complained of arm troubles and may be trying to hide that from the Yankees. Remember, Aceves is a Mexican League find, one year removed from not even being a Major Leaguer, one year removed from having all kinds of things thrown at him while he was on the field. He knows this could be his one shot and may be trying to pitch through pain to keep a spot on the Yankees.

But maybe the problem is that the Yankees have used him in so many different ways. Below are the charts from Baseball-Reference detailing his days of rest between pitching and the situations in which he's been used.

Days of Rest

0	1	2	3	4	5	7
7	3	11	6	3	5	1

Inning/Score Appearance Matrix

Inn	<-4	-4	-3	-2	-1	tie	1	2	3	4	>4	Total
4-				1	1	2	1	2				7
5		2		1	1	1			2			7
6	1	1		1	3			3	1			10
7			1	1		1					1	4
8					1		1	2				4
9	1			1		1					1	4
10+						3						3
Total	2	3	1	5	6	8	2	7	3	0	2	39

As you can see, there's no consistency. Was Watching talks about the spot start that ruined Alfredo Aceves. Peter Abraham talks about how Aceves is working through injuries. Mark Feinsand points out that Aceves disappeared for more than a week in the Yankees bullpen before last night and tries to page him. Maybe the key for Aceves is being given a role (I think that 6th or 7th inning righty out of the 'pen would good for him) and they need to stick with it.

Brian Bruney faces no such troubles. Besides two appearances early in blowouts, he's made all of his bullpen trots in the 7th inning or later. Bruney got hit hard in his first appearance but then settled down after that to be the Yankees most reliable set-up man in April. After that first start, he compiled a 1.17 ERA in 8 games, striking out 12 in 7.2 innings while walking no one and allowing only 2 hits through April 21st. Opponents had a .080/.080/.120 line against him.

Then he went on the disabled list for more than a month, came back, made one appearance, and went back on the DL for almost another month. Yankees fans were pretty sure the reason they couldn't beat Boston early on was that Bruney wasn't in their 'pen.

That really wasn't the case. Whether it was reverting back to his norms or the fact he may still be trying to pitch through injury, Bruney has not been the same pitcher since. In 31 games since coming back, he's pitched in 31 games to a 4.85 ERA, given up 32 hits in 26 innings, walking 20 and only striking out 19. His opponents have a .302/.414/.528 line against him. And that was with a 0.87 ERA in August!

Bruney has fallen far from the most reliable reliever in the bullpen. River Avenue Blues thinks that there's little chance Bruney makes the postseason roster, especially if the team only carries 10 pitchers. I don't disagree with that either; at this point, I don't think you can rely on Brian Bruney in any big spot (although sometimes Girardi seems to think to the contrary).