There are approximately three weeks left in the regular season, and the New York Yankees have a massive problem in the bullpen. After putting their full faith in Clay Holmes to be the team’s closer, it has now backfired in a horrible way.
Clay Holmes’ struggles as the closer continued Tuesday against the Rangers
The problem became emphasized Tuesday night when Holmes allowed a walk-off grand slam to Texas Rangers rookie Wyatt Langford for his major league-leading 11th blown save of the season. The loss also put the Yankees in the Wild Card, now trailing the Baltimore Orioles by 0.5 game in the American League East division.
Holmes started the season without allowing an earned run through the first two months, but his performance has declined drastically since late May. In his last 37 games, Holmes is pitching to a 5.14 ERA and a 1.54 WHIP. The Yankees attempted to address the bullpen problem at the trade deadline, but decided against acquiring a high-end reliever and went after Enyel De Los Santos – who only lasted two weeks before being DFA’d – and Mark Leiter Jr, who has struggled mightily since coming over.
Yankees general manager Brian Cashman explained after the trade deadline that he had his full trust in Holmes maintaining the closer role and being effective at it, with that trust playing a big part in not pursuing the big fish that were available.
“I’m comfortable with Clay Holmes [and] comfortable with what we have,” Cashman said via the New York Post. “I’m more comfortable with what we added to what we had. I didn’t enter the marketplace looking for closers. I entered the marketplace looking for the best available talent.”
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The Yankees need to stop using a traditional closer and do closer by committee
Now, it is clear that the Yankees need to re-assess Holmes’ role in the bullpen, but time is of the essence. With less than a month left before the postseason, there isn’t a lot of time to determine who should be the full-time closer for the rest of the season and the playoffs. There would have been an easier solution had they acquired a top relief arm, but without that at their disposal, they have to solve the problem internally.
Furthermore, the Yankees might need to stray away from having a traditional closer and do a closer-by-committee tactic. With this, New York would determine who gets the ball in the ninth inning based on matchups and whose stuff is best suited for the situation. Candidates to be a part of such a committee would be Jake Cousins and Tommy Kahnle, as both pitchers have thrown the ball very well this season and have the stuff to put away hitters at an exceptional rate.
If the Yankees want to secure what has been a tight division race, they will need to make a massive change in the bullpen. How they will do that remains to be seen, but time is running out to fix what has been an unreliable back end of the bullpen for the greater part of the season.
