On top of discussing the Yankees’ rotation plans, Aaron Boone revealed to the media that the team is looking to add another pitcher to their roster. After running out an 11-man staff for the best-of-five ALDS against the Kansas City Royals, it makes sense to expand their pitching staff as there are more back-to-back games in the ALCS. While in the Division Series, the Yankees would only have to play back-to-back games during Games 3 and 4, the Championship Series follows a 2-3-2 format, ensuring that a team will have multiple back-to-back sets regardless of series length.
It’s likely that we’ll see a four-man rotation for the ALCS versus the three-man staff they rolled out, removing Luis Gil from the bullpen, and the Yankees will try to add some more depth to help them in October.
Who Can the Yankees Add to Their Playoff Pitching Staff?
Unlike in the American League Division Series, Cody Poteet is eligible for the postseason roster as the 15-day window of ineligibility after being option has passed. When the Yankees sent him back down to Triple-A in late September, the Yankees took Poteet out of the race for being on their 11-man pitching staff, a decision that made sense considering his role as a long-relief option is less valuable than having a plethora of pinch-running options in a short series.
In the 2-3-2 format of the ALCS however, the Yankees could greatly benefit from having someone like Poteet who can throw 3-4 innings with a decent repertoire. His sweeper has become a real weapon for him, with 13.2 inches of horizontal movement that can get swings and misses against right-handed batters. He also deploys a four-seamer, sinker, changeup, and curveball which provide him with a myriad of movement profiles to utilize against hitters.
Across 23.2 innings in his MLB career as a reliever, Cody Poteet has a 3.04 ERA and 3.91 xFIP, which is pretty solid and could help the Yankees in a multi-inning role. He appeared out of the bullpen once for the Yankees, delivering 3.1 innings of one-run ball with three strikeouts against the Baltimore Orioles late in the season.
Clayton Beeter could also be of use to the Yankees as a multi-inning reliever, and his swing-and-miss stuff is very intriguing. He posted a 4.91 ERA in three appearances but struck out 33.3% of the batters he faced and boasted an excellent 117 Stuff+. Beeter has a good four-seamer with ride and velocity, but its his sharp slider that can miss a ton of bats at the bottom of the zone.
With an ability to miss bats at a high rate, there’s an easy-to-quantify upside here, but he’s also got very limited MLB experience and that presents its own challenges in a postseason environment. Teams have been willing to throw rookies and even make pitchers debut in October versus in a regular season situation, so it will be interesting to see if the Yankees are willing to do the same.
Mark Leiter Jr. struggled mightily after being traded from the Chicago Cubs to the New York Yankees, with a 4.98 ERA and 5.24 FIP across 21 outings. He struck out 31.7% of batters faced with the Yankees but just couldn’t find a way to limit damage contact, if they want to rely on him they’ll need to help him establish a sinker. The right-hander has decreased his usage of the sinker over his final few outings, limiting damage contact and missing plenty of bats.
The question is whether that’s enough for the Yankees to have any faith in Leiter, which is more than fair game considering his improved numbers came in low-leverage situations. Another veteran pitcher who could make the roster is Marcus Stroman, who struggled mightily late in the season but could provide a garbage-time arm who can eat innings.
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Marcus Stroman posted a 4.31 ERA and 4.62 FIP in his first season with the Yankees, as his groundball rate, Stuff+, and strikeout rate all hit career lows. His sinker velocity dropped by nearly two MPH which caused a dramatic decrease in effectiveness in the pitch alongside his secondary offerings. This was a disastrous year for him and the Yankees clearly do not want to rely on him in a big spot.
Over his last five appearances, Stroman had a 6.85 ERA and .459 BABIP against, but the underlying metrics suggest that there was some progression made. His Location+ was 102 which is dramatically higher than his 96 on the season, improving his groundball rate to 53.6% with batters chasing more often in those games as well. His stuff is still subpar and pretty easy to do damage against when left over the heart of the plate, so he should still be viewed as just a mop-up arm.
The Yankees have an interesting decision on their hands, and I wonder if they end up expanding to a 12 or 13 man staff ahead of the ALCS.