For the past four seasons, the Yankees have outperformed their Pythagorean winning percentage by 17 games total, seemingly snatching victory from the jaws of defeat on numerous occasions throughout the stretch.
While manager Joe Girardi certainly deserves plenty of credit, another key factor has been an elite bullpen over that time. Since 2013, no team has notched more wins above replacement from their bullpen than the Yankees, and no team has a lower bullpen SIERA (skill-interactive ERA) than the boys in pinstripes.
Heading into 2017, the Yankees were able to bring back two of their big guns in Dellin Betances and Aroldis Chapman, but beyond that duo, there were significant questions. With Andrew Miller shipped out of town for several prospects at the deadline, who would be their lefty specialist? Luis Severino had been one of their better bullpen options in 2016, but he was moving to the rotation to give his best shot at becoming an ace (a shot which he is making). Who was going to fill his role?
Well, even after Chapman blew his first save of the season on Sunday night in a wild game against the Chicago Cubs, the Yankees bullpen has some impressive statistics. In fact, Sunday night’s game actually goes to highlight what has been so impressive about the Yankees’ bullpen in 2017. After Chapman uncharacteristically blew a three-run lead, the Yanks used four relievers for a combined nine and a third innings of shutout baseball, getting the 5-4 win after the clock struck 1:00 A.M. in the 18th inning.
Just look at the names the Yankees used last night: Tyler Clippard, Adam Warren, Todd Burkley, Jonathan Holder and Chasen Shreve. And I only made up one of those names (no, it’s not Chasen). These are far from household names; in fact, with the exception of Clippard and maybe Warren, unless you’re a pretty intense Yankee fan these names are totally unfamiliar.
Holder and Shreve (OK, there’s no such thing as a Todd Burkley in the Yankees’ pen) are joined by names like Tommy Layne, Bryan Mitchell and Luis Cessa in combining to put up top-five bullpen statistics this season. These names sound more like hair products than MLB relievers, but boy oh boy are they getting the job done:
| Stat | WAR | ERA | FIP | xFIP | K/9 | SIERA | K-BB% |
| MLB rank | 4th | 4th | 3rd | 7th | 3rd | 8th | 6th |
There are the Yankees’ bullpen ranks, across baseball, for the 2017 season. Obviously having Chapman (3.00 ERA; 2.38 xFIP) and Betances (0.84 ERA; 2.18 xFIP) is a massive advantage, but it has been far from a two-man show.
Adam Warren is leading the bullpen in innings pitched, and in his 17.2 innings he has allowed one run. One run! Tyler Clippard has been Girardi’s favorite weapon, using him in 15 of the team’s 29 games. For those who struggle with mental math, that’s more than half of the Yankees’ games this season. He’s been terrible compared to Warren: He’s allowed two whole runs. The shame he must be bringing on his family with that 1.35 ERA. The success goes on and on. Chasen Shreve has gone seven innings without allowing a run so far, and Jonathan Holder has a 2.08 ERA and 1.31 FIP in his 13 innings this season.
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Once you get to the back end of the bullpen the ERAs get a bit bigger (Bryan Mitchell: 6.35, Tommy Layne: 9.45 and Luis Cessa: 5.40), but they have been used barely over 20 innings combined, so Girardi knows better than to use those arms when he truly needs some outs. Plus, there’s the fact that each of those three has an xFIP better than his ERA, and it’s fair to count on some better results in the future.
With the breakout campaigns of Michael Pineda and Luis Severino in the rotation, the bullpen has been able to avoid being taxed so far this season, as well. They rank just 25th in bullpen innings pitched, which cuts favorably for being able to keep up the success they’ve had and avoid being worn out.
Now, the pen is not without flaws. Chapman and Betances (not to mention Shreve, Layne and Mitchell) have struggled with their command at times. Betances has the highest walks per nine rate of his career right now, and Chapman has the second-highest after his walk-heavy rookie campaign. Warren and Shreve both appear to be getting a bit lucky on their balls in play, and likely won’t keep up their world-beating ERAs for the entirety of 2017.
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That being said, the success the team has had is already banked, and no one is going to be able to take away the 20-9 start to the season that has been in part thanks to the bullpen. The Yankees are once again outperforming their Pythagorean winning percentage (by one game) and while it is too early in the season to say whether that extra win is the result of the bullpen or any of a myriad other factors, the bullpen, despite losing Andrew Miller, is a great strength for the Yankees once again.