Don’t worry, Yankees fans. You soon won’t have Clay Holmes to kick around anymore.
That’s because the moment the World Series ends, Holmes will join thousands upon thousands of living Yankees ghosts. As in, he’ll hit free agency, sign with a new team, and only leave memories of his New York days. Even if the Yankees win the World Series and Holmes is the MVP, he’s gone. At 31, he’s one of the better and younger arms in a shockingly old group of upcoming free agent pitchers.
That means come spring training, unless they splurge for Tanner Scott, the Yankees will have an open in-house competition. A handful of relievers take the mound in exhibition games. The best of them gets the ball in the ninth inning on Opening Day.
Luke Weaver. At this point, the closer’s job is probably Weaver’s to lose. He’s been excellent as a multi-inning setup man and would be unlike many modern closers. A former starter, Weaver relies on three pitches instead of a closer’s usual two. He throws a fastball, cutter, and changeup, and got more life on his fastball thanks to advice from ace Gerrit Cole and pitching coach Matt Blake.
Promoting Weaver could also prove low risk, high reward for the Yankees. His club option for next season is only $2.5 million, and the Yankees will almost certainly retain him. At worst, he just goes back to being the setup man.
Jake Cousins. The 30-year-old righty has proven yet another one of Brian Cashman’s great bullpen finds. Cousins was acquired from the White Sox near the end of spring training and has been a bullpen fixture since late June. He has a 2.87 ERA and 12.5 K/9 in 34 games, and even notched his first career save in August.
As to pitching style, Cousins relies on a nasty silder which he pairs with a sinker. He has a 46.5% whiff rate (Whiff%) on the slider, so strikeouts won’t be an issue. He does, however, need to improve his 41.6% groundball rate (GB%).
Ron Marinaccio. Toms River’s favorite son has a 2.02 ERA in Triple-A this year, but can’t seem to stick in the majors. Marinaccio’s effectiveness is tied entirely to his fastball and changeup and if one pitch isn’t working, odds are the other isn’t either. He has a 3.86 mark in 16 MLB games this season, but a 4.94 FIP.
If Marinaccio is a Yankee next spring, he’ll probably get a chance if he pitches strong out of the gate. Otherwise, in this theoretical competition, he is very much the underdog.
Luis Gil. Fresh off of the injured list and six shutout (And one-hit) innings in Chicago later, we’re still talking about Luis Gil the closer. To be fair, he has done very well as a starter this season, pitching to a 3.24 ERA and 128 ERA+. In hindsight, that makes his MLB-leading 68 walks seem more like growing pains.
And yet, maybe it’s better that Gil head to the bullpen next year. He still only throws three pitches and is still mastering his changeup. He does, however, have natural fastball velocity that sometimes touches upwards of 96 mph.
The Yankees rotation is fairly set for next season: Gerrit Cole, Carlos Rodon, Marcus Stroman, and we’ll assume Clarke Schmidt and Nestor Cortes remain starters. If anything, Gil and Cortes would swap places. But if Gil’s fastball has life and he can decrease those walks, don’t be shocked if the ninth inning calls him.
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