Managing the Yankees

Do you know why the Yankees are successful this year? It's their much improve bullpen.

On the start of the year, the Yankees envisioned their bullpen to heavily depend on their good old reliable closer Mariano Rivera. The question is who will set-up Rivera. On Opening Day, Brian Bruney, Jose Veras and lefty Damaso Marte were sharing set-up duty. Neither of the three set-up pitchers made an impact this season. All of sudden, Mariano Rivera is left alone in the bullpen with no back-up help.

Fortunately for the Yankees they added a new batch of youngsters eager to show their stuff in the league. Enter the likes of Mark Melancon, David Robertson, Alfredo Aceves, and lefty Phil Coke. Alfredo Aceves and Dave Robertson, who began the year in the minors, are multi-purpose relievers. Aceves can go long or work an inning; Robertson can go for a strikeout or work multiple innings. Coke began the season as the second lefty in the bullpen, but Marte got hurt. Phil Coke suddenly become their "only" lefty specialist.

But the most major impact to the Yankess bullpen this year is the insertion of Phil Hughes. Hughes opened the year in Triple-A, came up to start when Chien-Ming Wang struggled and went to the bullpen when Wang returned. By the time a rotation spot opened up again with Wang on the disabled list, Hughes had almost accidentally established himself as the eighth-inning alternative. The Yankees have found their set-up guy in Hughes. Phil Hughes amazingly fit in nicely as their set-up man.

And when the Yankees advanced to the ALDS, they have found and added another arm in their powerful bullpen: Joba Chamberlain.
Because of the increase innings that Joba had this season, his arm started to wear off at the end of the season. To keep any further damage and avoid any long term injury to their prize asset, the Yankees coaching staff place Joba in the bullpen. Girardi said that since the ALDS is a short series, he will only need 3 starting pitchers (Sabathia, Burnett, and Pettitte). Joba has no spot in the rotation. Joba went back to the bullpen and provided some spark like he used to do last season. Chamberlain has come out firing 95 mph fastballs right away -- something he wasn't able to do in the first inning as a starter.

Things become easy for the Yankees starting rotation knowing that the bullpen will back them up. In this year ALDS, None of the starters--Sabathia, Burnett and Pettitte--finished the seventh inning. Sabathia threw 113 pitches, Burnett 95 pitches, and Pettitte just 81 pitches.

Indeed the Yankees bullpen has come along way this season!

David Robertson or what we come to known as "D-Rob". Robertson has given the Yankees another reputable and reliable arm in their bullpen, which by the way is having a strong performance this season. It seems that Robertson is an automatic assurance in their post-season roster spot. But he got injured last Sept.5 (elbow stiffness). Will he ever play in the play-offs? Yankee Manager Girardi is confident that he will play. Robertson is back in the line-up and his last outing against the Royals shows no sign of pain in his elbow and there is a possibility that he could make the roster.

Here is Joe Girardi's comments:

• "In bullpen situations, you want guys that have the ability to strike guys out when they come in during the middle innings with guys on base,"
  
• "He definitely has that, and that's an important piece of the puzzle".

This are Robertson's quotes:

• "The elbow felt great, I didn't have any problems at all warming up. It felt really good. It felt just like normal. And then once I got out of the game, it felt the exact same. It felt like it was a month ago."

Though Robertson's inclusion on the postseason roster is no guarantee, another strong outing on Friday against the Rays in St. Petersburg could solidify his case. Currently, Robertson, Brian Bruney, Damaso Marte, Alfredo Aceves and Chad Gaudin are all in contention for what appears to be three open spots in a seven-man American League Division Series bullpen.

Robertson, easily the best strikeout artist of the bunch if he's healthy, would seem to have an early advantage based on those merits.

Let's just hope D-Rob remains healthy. We're gonna need him come play-off time.

Chad Gaudin came to the Yankees at the right moment. With only CC Sabathia being consistent on the Yankees rotation all season long. It's nice to have an extra guy at the back of the rotation and provide long relief at the bullpen. In fact Girardi is convinced to install the 26 year old right hander to the post-season roster.

Since the acquisition from the San Diego Padres on Aug. 6, Gaudin has taken the mound 10 times, making 6 starts and 4 relief appearance. The Yankees are undefeated when he starts. Exactly what the Yanks needed. The nice thing about Gaudin is he is effective as a starter or reliever. He has some experience in the post-season (2006 play-offs with the Oakland A's) and can handle pressure games.

Question is what will be Gaudin's role in ALDS? Will he start in Game 4? or will he provide long relief from the bullpen? Only time will tell.

Yankee manager Joe Girardi indicated that he will have 10-11 pitchers in the ALDS. The team don't need a lot of pitchers since it is a short series. We have 3 of our starting rotation (Sabathia, Burnett, Pettitte). Plus 6 staple guys in the bullpen (Rivera, Hughes, Coke, Aceves, Joba, and Gaudin). That's a total of 9 pitchers.
With 1-2 pitchers to choose from, Girardi is considering adding another lefty (Damaso Marte) and/or power pitcher David Robertson (if he is healthy).

That means there is no spot left for Brian Bruney. Bruney was destined to be a set-up guy for Mariano Rivera during the start of the 2009 season. But injuries has kept him from doing that. Bruney struggled for much of the season after spending two stints on the DL with elbow problems.

But that didn't stop Bruney. Since Aug. 7, Bruney has allowed just 3 earned runs over his last 18 appearances for a 1.69 ERA. And he received a standing ovation from the crowd after recording 5 key outs against the Red Sox for the division clincher.

There is still a chance for Bruney. So to top it off, here is what i can suggest for Bruney's status in the post-season. ALDS spot-No!, ALCS-Yes! What do you suggest?