Best Bullpen Ever?

Here is our own Chris Saunders, discussing the Yankees recent trade to get one of the best closers in the game!

Article by Chris Saunders

       

After months of trying to acquire a third bullpen piece to help ease the pressure off Dellin Betances and Andrew Miller has happened, with the Yankees getting Aroldis Chapman from the reds for quartet of minor league prospects (Third baseman Eric Jagielo/Second baseman Tony Renda/Right handers Caleb Gotham-Rookie Davis).

       

Outcome for Yankees

Chapman, 27, is arguably baseball’s best relief pitcher, but he comes with significant off-field baggage in the form of domestic violence allegations that ultimately halted a trade to the Dodgers from being finalized earlier this month. Chapman is currently being investigated by the league, and there’s a very real chance that he’ll serve some form of suspension from commissioner Rob Manfred under the league’s newly implemented domestic violence policy. What type of suspension is up to Manfred, though as many have pointed out, there are service time implications in any suspension that could impact Chapman’s free agency; if Chapman misses more than 45 days of the regular season due to suspension, he’ll fall shy of reaching six years of Major League service, which would prevent him from becoming a free agent next winter. Now strictly looking at Chapman’s on-field resumé, the results are astounding. In 2015, he worked to a 1.63 ERA with 15.7 K/9, 4.5 BB/9 and a 37.1 percent ground-ball rate. Over the past four seasons in Cincinnati, the Cuban-born phenom has delivered an exceptional 1.90 ERA while averaging 16.1 strikeouts and 3.8 walks per nine innings to go along with an average of 36 saves per season. Chapman is known for his blistering fastball; the left-hander averaged 100.3 mph on his heater in 2014 and followed that up with a similarly incredulous 99.5 mph average this past season. His addition could free the Yankees to trade Miller or Betances, but Joel Sherman of the New York Post hears that the team’s initial plan is to keep all three in an effort to effectively shorten games to six-inning affairs.

With the acquisition of Chapman the Yankees now have three of the top 5 strikeout percentage leaders from the 2014-2015 season. Chapman(46.3 percent) Miller (41.6  percent) Betances (39.5 percent). What Brian Cashman, Yankees GM, is accomplishing in hind sit is quiet simple. Yankees ranked 19th in starting rotation, 12th in American league in ERA, due to the fact the rotation has question marks one through five. Tanaka pitched with a partially torn UCL, C.C struggled with knee injuries and later checked into Rehab, Pineda has re-occuring shoulder problems (Once needing surgery and missed two years), Eovaldi is a hard thrower averaging 96.7 MPH on his fastball, but health has been a question mark his entire career. The only semi consistent starter and was healthy mind you was 21yrd old Luis severino, whom was dominate in his rookie campaign, but also never has pitched more than 161 2/3rds inning over his short career. Having the three headed monster of chapman, miller, betances helps shorten games, of which cancels out in some way what looks like to be a shaky bullpen.

Reds Second Tier Acquisitions

Reds are getting for chapman two minor leaguers whom are from the Yankees second tier of prospects (Jagielo/davis) in addition to a pair of prospects that didn’t crack the top 30 on the Yankees top 30 Prospects in 2016 BA Rankings. Rookie Davis the best of the crop ranked 6th in the yankees farm system according to Baseball America, while Jagielo ranked 6th and Davis 10th on MLB.com prospects rankings. Jagielo has the ability to drive the ball to all fields, with good loft in his swing. That could potentially give him at least average home run power, and in a ballpark such as Great American Ballpark his average power can be utilized even more. One major red flag with Jagielo is his strikeouts ( 23.3 percent in 2015; 24.4 percent in 2014), although he does walk enough giving him a sound On-Base percentage rate even if his batting average is lackluster. The other major prospect in this deal is Rookie Davis, whom made a mechanical adjustment prior to the 2015 season and it showed (3.86 ERA with 8.9 K/9 against 1.8 BB/9 in in 130 2/3 innings between Class-A Advanced and Double-A.) Throws a heater 93-95 MPH- complimented by a mid 70’s curve and a low 80’s change up. BA noted that he can be a mid rotation starter if everything comes together for him, although there has been questions regarding his good control, but spotty command (I.E throws strikes but doesn’t command the pitches in the strike zone with precision and effectiveness.) If Davis does move to a bullpen role he has a chance to be an effective set up man, or possibly a closer where his velocity can spike into the triple digits.

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