The New York Yankees thought they solved their bullpen woes with a pair of trade deadline acquisitions, but the problems have only gotten worse after both acquisitions have not panned out thus far. Enyel De Los Santos was DFA’d just two weeks after New York traded for him, and Mark Leiter Jr. has struggled mightily since coming over from the Chicago Cubs.
Mark Leiter has struggled mightily with the Yankees so far
After Clay Holmes blew the save in the ninth inning Sunday night against the Detroit Tigers, the Yankees were given a second opportunity to nail down the save in the bottom of the 10th inning with a one-run lead and Leiter pitching. However, Leiter failed to record an out and the Tigers walked off the Yankees to win the series.
It was a crushing loss given that Marcus Stroman tossed a gem with six scoreless innings and Luke Weaver and Tommy Kahnle didn’t allow a hit in each of their innings of relief.
Leiter was expected to be a key player in the Yankees’ bullpen thanks to his high swing-and-miss rates. While he still is striking batters out (11.9 K/9), it is coming along with giving up runs in critical moments. In 11 games as a Yankee, Leiter has a 6.48 ERA and has allowed two home runs.
Leiter’s struggles make the Yankees bullpen even thinner
The right-hander has now surrendered at least one earned run in three of his last four outings, and his struggles come at a time when the Yankees need him to pitch better as the bullpen is very thin. New York has been searching for ways to deepen the bullpen all season long, and Leiter has been severely underwhelming despite high expectations.
Until he starts to turn it around, Leiter may begin to pitch in fewer high-leverage situations, as they would rely on Weaver and Kahnle to get the job done late, with Michael Tonkin likely seeing some high-leverage spots as well. The Yankees may also slightly tweak Leiter’s pitch arsenal to have him throw less fastballs and more offspeed stuff, as his splitter and curveball are his most effective pitches.
There’s still time for him to figure things out and become an impactful reliever moving forward, but so far the results have been far from encouraging and need to change sooner rather than later.