Call to the pen
Fansided

Yankees: It’s time to take this pitching strategy to a new level

By Manny Gómez|
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - JULY 18: Chad Green #57 of the New York Yankees pitches during the first inning of game two of a doubleheader against the Tampa Bay Rays at Yankee Stadium on July 18, 2019 in the Bronx borough of New York City. (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - JULY 18: Chad Green #57 of the New York Yankees pitches during the first inning of game two of a doubleheader against the Tampa Bay Rays at Yankee Stadium on July 18, 2019 in the Bronx borough of New York City. (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images)

This season the New York Yankees joined MLB’s trend of using openers. With their starters’ recent pitching woes, it’s time to take that strategy to a whole new level.

This season, the New York Yankees have a 6.14 ERA in the first inning. Over the last six games, they’ve allowed 13 runs in the first, which amounts to a 19.50 ERA. The only Yankee starter with an ERA below 5.29 in the first inning this season is Domingo German.

In essence, Yankee starters have been burying their team’s chances of winning practically before the game even starts. This puts hitters in a position to feel as if they have to carry the load and are under constant pressure to tack on the runs.

With the trade deadline fast approaching, teams are taking notice of the Yankees’ desperate need for a top-of-the-line starter and will most certainly have a higher price point for the Evil Empire. However, what if the answer already lies within the team in a strategy the organization has been successful with already this season?

More from Call to the Pen

I’m talking about deploying an opener more regularly in order to combat high scoring in the first-inning of ball games.

In the 10-games the Yankees have deployed this strategy they are 10-0 with Chad Green taking on opener duties nine times and Steven Tarpley once. In those games, openers have only managed to allow FIVE total runs in the first inning. FOUR of those runs came on 6/30, the only time Tarpley was the opener for the Yankees.

At this stage in the strategy, openers have been used as something of a fill-in for a starter. A strategy you deploy in double-headers or when one of your starters does a brief stint on the IL.

What I’m suggesting is using an opener more regularly, perhaps even two or three times a week. As explained in this piece, the opener strategy is used precisely for the reason of combatting high scoring in the first inning. For the New York Yankees, the first inning problem is more than a problem.

It’s beginning to feel like the team’s kryptonite.

Moving forward, I propose that Chad Green be used twice through the order of a rotation; once when James Paxton is supposed to be the starter and then again when Masahiro Tanaka is the starter.

If the strategy works, deploy the strategy with another reliever on days CC Sabathia is set to start.

Sure, people will complain about the strategy; they’ll long for the days in which a starter started the game and sometimes even finished it. Those days are gone, and given that the strategy has actually worked – especially for the New York Yankees – why not keep rolling with it?

Home/New York Yankees