THE FLAW

The Yankees are motoring. They are half a game out of first place, and have been tearing through their opposition.  (I’ll ignore for now the fact that they have yet to show they can beat Boston or Tampa Bay.)

So all Yankee fans should be happy, right?  Well, almost.  But our joy must be tempered, because this Yankee team has a major flaw – the bullpen.  The Yankee pen is in disarray.

At season’s start, it appeared otherwise.  Based upon 2008, the bullpen looked to be a major strength.  Alas, it has not been so.  At this point chaos reigns, and the seventh and eighth inings bring terror to the hearts of all Yankee fans.

The original bullpen looked strong.  Led by the greatest closer in the history of baseball, Mariano Rivera, the pen included Brian Bruney, Damaso Marte, and Jose Veras, all of whom sparkled in 2008.  Backing them up were three good looking youngsters with major league experience:  Phil Coke, Edgar Ramirez, and Jonathan Yabadaba (or whatever his name is).

Two months into the season, Bruney and Marte have disappeared into the vast abyss known as the Disabled List, while Ramirez and Yabadaba (or whatever his incomprehensible name is) have been exiled to the minors.  Only Coke and Veras remain behind Rivera, and Veras has been just awful.  Coke has been good when not called upon to pitch more than an inning, but all too often the Yankees’ mastermind, Joe Girardi, has left him in too long.  Mark Melancon, the supposed successor to Mo, was up briefly, but tanked and was sent back to Scranton.

The remaining bullpen now includes two long relievers, Alfredo Aceves and Brett Tomko; a starting pitcher who can’t crack the rotation, Chien Ming Wang; and an unproven kid, Dave Robertson.  Tomko is a retread who has done nothing.  Wang is a sinker ball pitcher, which is not what you want in the late innings, where strikeouts are essential.  Aceves has been effective in long relief but is unproven late in the game.  And Robertson has not shown the velocity necessary to be more than an inning eater.

So when the seventh inning rolls around, the Yankees are a thrill a minute.  The wrong kind of thrill.  Absent a return by Bruney, the emergence of Aceves as a late inning guy, or the belated arrival of Mark Melancon, there appears to be no easy solution for the Yankees’ bullpen woes.

Look for a mid season trade.  Without some help, the Yankees can’t match up against the Red Sox bullpen in the postseason.

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