Do You Believe in the Yankees Bullpen?

May was not a good month for the Yankee bullpen. After a so-so April, the Yankee bullpen got beat up in May to the tune of a 4.94 ERA and a WHIP of 1.417. The strikeouts were low (7.4 per 9 but up from 6.8 per 9 in April) for a group of power arms and worse than that, they had given up 11 HR in 78.1 innings. Those 78.1 innings were a lot for a group that was struggling and one problem seem to beget the other. Opposing teams had a .758 OPS against vs. the Yankees relief corps and things looked bleak with guys like Joba Chamberlain and David Robertson struggling to set up Mariano Rivera.

A sunset picture I took from Yankee Stadium last night

Then things changed in June. The Yankees bullpen ERA dropped to 3.25 for the month, the team only gave up 4 HR and K/9 ticked up to 8.1. They hit that same K/9 mark in July, and dropped their baserunners that month to the point the opposing team's OBP was .291. And August has been something of a renaissance for this newly formed group as they have gone 1-1 with a 1.17 ERA, a 1.036 WHIP and 3 HR against. Through July 2nd, the Yankees bullpen had allowed 30% of inherited baserunners to score; from July 3rd to August 11th, only 11%. The opposing line so far in August is .176/.275/.267.

And they haven't done this against slouch offenses, either, holding their own against Toronto (lead AL in HR), Boston (.806 OPS leads the AL), at Texas (where one of the top offenses in the league feasts on the hot air), and against Kansas City and Texas (2nd and 3rd in the AL in average, respectively). So what changed? What clicked for this team? Why were they able to go through their entire bullpen tomorrow and get valuable outs from each member (while I was in the stands). Let's go through the bullpen:

Mariano Rivera. It all starts and ends with Mo (mostly ends). In mid-May, Rivera hit his once-a-year rough patch, blowing a game against Minnesota on May 16th, losing a game against Boston on May 18th (on two unearned runs), and barely squeaking by with a save after an earned run on May 21st. Those were three consecutive outings and saw his ERA (which before that had been 0.00) rise to 2.02. Since that date (and even including his loss in Texas), Rivera is 3-1 with 16 saves to one blown (they won that 7/4 game vs. Toronto despite that), sports a 0.58 ERA (and zero unearned runs as well) and has 26 K to 4 BB. In that time he's given up no home runs and held opposing batters to an embarrassing .150/.195/.178 line. The team is 29-2 in his appearances in that time-frame.Although Rivera's FIP (2.39) and xFIP (3.30) are much better than his ERA (1.02), he's always outperformed those numbers.

David Robertson. The Yankees expected big things from Robertson after his performance last year but he struggled out of the gate. Mightly. Robertson was 0-1 with a 10.80 ERA in April and 0-1 with a 5.73 ERA in May. Between those two months, he gave up 3 HR. He hasn't given up a HR since and has given up 5 runs combined between June, July and August. Since July 2nd when Robertson got bombed for 4 runs, he hasn't allowed a run and has struck out 22 in 17.2 innings. Robertson himself is 2-0 with 5 holds and has held opposing hitters to a .138/.250/.155 line against (and only one XBH). From May 1st to August 10th, Robertson went 35 appearances without allowing an inherited runner to score. And he's pitched even better than his ERA has show with a 3.41 FIP (though a 3.76 xFIP). He's now up to 10.2 K/9 for the year and is looking more and more like the 8th inning man for the Yanks.

Joba Chamberlain. Few Yankee fans would say "Joba Rules" in 2010 but after some bad luck earlier in the season, he's started to settle down recently. After getting tattooed in mid-July, he's settled down quite a bit. From July 28th to August 18th, Joba has pitched 11 times (10.2 innings) and the only run he's given up was on a tough home run from Miguel Cabrera. The line against Joba in that time is .111/.179/.222 and the only other XBH he gave up was last night. Although he's still far from the dominant pitcher he was when he came up in 2007 (and he throws an ineffective slider way too often), Joba's 4.92 ERA and 9.5 K/9 are at least palatable and his 3.09 FIP and 3.47 xFIP makes you think that the ERA could keep on coming down. But Joba has lost his 8th inning job and you can tell by the fact that he was in the game in the 6th inning last night that he's not really in Joe Girardi's favor.

Boone Logan. Who would have thunk that Logan--a throw-in it seemed in the Javier Vazquez trade this past off-season--would become such an important pitcher for the Yankees? Left-handed batters are hitting .188/.278/.229 vs. Logan with only one XBH and 17 K to 5 BB. In the last 28 days, Logan has held everyone to a .107/.167/.107 line against with 9.00 K:BB. and his K:BB ratio in the second half of the season is 12.00 and his ERA is 0.84. His ERA was 4.05 on July 18th when Logan came back up to the Majors to take over for Damaso Marte; now it's 2.79 (though his FIP is 3.71 and his xFIP 4.04). Logan has been back-and-forth between Triple-A and the majors but after this performance, I think he's here to stay.

Kerry Wood. 9 innings pitched, 1 earned run (on a home run) and 13 Ks. Yesterday was some of Wood's best when he got out of bases loaded and only one out with to straight Ks, holding the fort in the Yankees victory. Wood provides the Yankees another power righty arm out of that bullpen which will be big down the stretch and (hopefully) in the playoffs against the likes of Evan Longoria, Nelson Cruz, Michael Young, Delmon Young, Paul Konerko, Dustin Pedroia, etc. Wood has walked the tightrope a few times and his 3.98 FIP and 3.90 xFIP shows that he may not be pitching quite as well as a 1.00 ERA would make it seem, but regardless, this is a good, low-risk, high-reward pick-up by Brian Cashman.

Sergio Mitre. His name may be Meat-Tray, but he's actually been a valuable arm for the Yankees out of the bullpen, especially as a long man. If you take out his one spot start, Mitre has a 2.13 ERA and a WHIP of 0.829, holding opposing batters to a .155/.237/.274 line as a reliever. Although he probably won't pitch any important innings for the Yankees (and his high FIP and xFIP suggests that's probably a good decision), they know they can throw him out there if a starter gets shelled early and he'll at least keep the Yankees in the game.

Chan Ho Park. Addition by subtraction. Since Park was selected off waivers by the Pirates on August 4th, Park has given up 6 earned runs and the remaining Yankee relievers have given up 3. No joke. I thought Park was a good pickup by the Yankees but good for them for sinking a sunk cost and letting him go to the place where former Yankee pitchers go: Pittsburgh (or Houston where they complain about the Yankee crowd)

Chad Gaudin. Not a good pitcher but since the Yankees have given him only 8 appearances since the end of June, it's helped to keep a bad pitcher out of the game. Has a 4.76 ERA with the Yankees but will be delegated to mop-up work when Aceves comes back (mostly because his 4.76 ERA is much better an his 5.63 FIP or 5.41 xFIP).

The other guys who could help:

Alfredo Aceves. Speaking of Aceves, he's in the middle of rehabbing and should be back by September 1st. In the past 2 seasons and change for the Yankees, Aceves is 13-1 with a 3.16 ERA in 99.2 innings out of the 'pen for the Yankees and has a 1.013 WHIP and 3.62 SO/BB ratio. If you add a healthy and effective Aceves and take away Gaudin, this is a very good group, with Aceves a perfect swing man capable of setting up, pitching middle relief or being the long man.

Damaso Marte. Marte's regular seasons with the Yankees have been marred by poor pitching and injuries, but make no doubt that he wasn't a key player to the Yankees 2009 World Series championship run. Although I'm not sure who he replaces, if they can get him healthy by the end of the year (and that may be a big if), he could be an important lefty in the playoffs to get out the likes of Josh Hamilton, Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, David Ortiz, and Carlos Pena.

Dustin Moseley. If Andy Pettitte comes back healthy, Moseley can go back to the bullpen where he can be a big contributor. Not a great pitcher but if Aceves can't come back healthy, Moseley can try to fill his roll in the 'pen.

Phil Hughes. I have no clue how the Yankees plan to use Hughes in the playoffs, but if they decide they need to limit his innings, 2009's bullpen star could be back at the end of the game for the Yankees. With Andy Pettitte's injury concerns and Javy Vazquez and A.J. Burnett being inconsistent, I can't see the Yankees going this route, but if they are really concerned about his innings, who knows?

Jonathan Albaladejo. Albie just broke the International League saves record with his 39th save. Overall he has a 1.40 ERA (2.02 FIP), a WHIP of 0.884, 0.3 HR/9, 11.5 K/9, and 4.35 SO/BB. When Scranton/Wilkes-Barre's season ends, he'll be another power arm at the back end of the Yankee bullpen.

Ivan Nova. The Yankees best Triple-A starter came up earlier this year and pitched 3 scoreless innings. In the minors he's gone 12-3 with a 2.86 ERA in 145 innings. He most likely would come up to start, but when SWB's season ends he'll head to the Bronx with Albie to provide some depth.

Romulo Sanchez. Another Yankee minor-leaguer who has gotten some scoreless big-league time this season. Sanchez should be up with the big-league squad as well. Although his ERA of 4.13 (and 4.20 FIP) is a bit high, Sanchez has the Major League experience and could provide another arm in September, though I'd bet money against him being on the 2010 postseason roster no matter what occurs. It's not that he's bad, but he's just so far down the depth chart that massive bullpen injuries would have to occur to give him a post-season chance.

As we continue to gear up for the playoffs and continually try to answer the question from the other day: "do you believe in this group?" I don't love them and I don't think any of them are invincible, but the Yankees are compiling a really good group of relievers as we head to the second half of  August. Vote in our poll on the right side to let us know if you feel the same.