TORONTO — Clay Holmes is the last man standing in the Yankees bullpen.
Where does it go from here?
Holmes has not been perfect this season, but the closer has been healthy, which is more than the rest of the relievers the Yankees expected to rely on can say — besides Michael King, who moved to the rotation last month and looks to have a real shot of staying there next year.
Tommy Kahnle, the Yankees’ only major league signing to the bullpen last offseason, started (biceps tendinitis) and finished (shoulder inflammation) the season on the injured list.
Jonathan Loaisiga, who has the stuff to be a closer, only pitched in 17 games because of elbow surgery and subsequent elbow inflammation.
Wandy Peralta, the veteran lefty who is now set to become a free agent, nearly made it the whole season before a triceps issue landed him on the IL last week.
Ian Hamilton, a revelation after signing as a minor league free agent, had two IL stints for the same groin strain.
Albert Abreu, the last man in the bullpen for much of the season, went down with a hamstring strain earlier this month.
Keynan Middleton, the Yankees’ only trade deadline addition and a pending free agent, may or may not make it back from shoulder inflammation for the final series.
Lou Trivino and Scott Effross were both lost to Tommy John surgery before the season even started.
Ron Marinaccio did stay healthy, but took a step back from his rookie year and ended this season stuck at Triple-A.
And yet, despite all of that — and having to use 21 different relievers, not including two position players and three starters making spot relief appearances — the Yankees still entered Thursday with the best bullpen ERA in the majors at 3.36.
“It’s been impressive,” Holmes said. “There’s been some turnover a little bit. But I think guys just learn from each other and really just learn what your strengths are and how those match up. I think it’s something the coaching staff, they do really well here.”
But is there anything the Yankees could have done differently this season in terms of workload to help those key relievers stay healthier overall, or is that just the nature of being a reliever?
“Little bit of both,” pitching coach Matt Blake said. “I think you’re always looking back on: Were there situations where you could’ve avoided using certain guys or the dry humps in the bullpen where they get up and don’t come in? Those things all add up. So any time you have a lot of guys go down in the bullpen, you’re always looking at: What was the usage? Are there things that you missed? Are there things you’d like to do differently?
“Some of it is the nature of the type of guys you have out there that are a little bit higher risk because of the stuff they throw, they have previous injuries. Or it’s just the nature of being a reliever, too. So you’d like to solve it as best as you can and get better at it. But that’s something we’re going to take a close look at.”
It has helped that the Yankees have done a good job in recent years of finding undervalued arms and turning them into important pieces of the bullpen to provide some depth. Heck, that’s how they got Holmes in the first place from the Pirates before he developed into their closer over the past two years.
For his part, Holmes dealt with back, shoulder and knee issues last year as a heavy workload caught up to him in the second half of the season. This year was a different story.
“I feel like I’ve carried the load a lot better this year,” Holmes said Wednesday. “I feel good. I feel like I could definitely keep going. That’s kind of the goal here. Especially, you want to do your best in September and October. The more times you do it, the more times you learn your body and how you need to prepare and how to prepare your body for the long haul. … It’s always good to end the year in a good spot.
Unfortunately, we won’t be pitching in October and November this year. But definitely kind of just hit the ground running in the offseason and build on this year.”
Blake credited Holmes — who entered Thursday with a 2.90 ERA, 69 strikeouts in 62 innings and 23 saves in 26 chances — for the way he takes care of his body and how he communicates with the staff about what he needs, both from a workload and maintenance standpoint.
Soon enough, the Yankees may have a decision to make on Holmes. The 30-year-old is under contract for one more year, and though he said he and the team have not had any talks yet about a potential extension, he enjoys pitching in New York and wants to try to win a championship here.
To do that, Holmes will need some better help around him as the Yankees enter the offseason with question marks about their bullpen, including:
• Can Loaisiga actually stay healthy for a full season?
• Do they re-sign Peralta, and if not, whom do they add as a lefty reliever, unless they think Nick Ramirez can be that guy?
• How do they get Marinaccio back on track after a rough season?
• After an inconsistent first year back in The Bronx, can Kahnle still be an impact reliever?
• If King does stay in the rotation, can Jhony Brito fill his role as the multi-inning weapon?
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A rewarding partnership
Before Gerrit Cole finished his Cy Young campaign in emphatic fashion Wednesday night, Aaron Boone talked about how meaningful the award would be to the Yankees ace because of how many people he would share it with.
One of those people is Ben Rortvedt, who became Cole’s personal catcher on the fly when Jose Trevino underwent season-ending wrist surgery in July.
Cole’s and Rortvedt’s interactions in the dugout during starts — and Cole often shaking off his catcher on the mound — have been all over social media. But Rortvedt deserves some credit for the work he has done with Cole.
“This is really cool, and I’m glad I got a little piece of this,” Rortvedt said of Cole presumably locking up the Cy Young.
Cole asks a lot of his catchers, and rightfully so, but Rortvedt answered the call and in the process gained an appreciation for the Yankees ace.
“This dude shows up every day, whether he’s starting or not, he’s trying to get better and he’s making everyone better around him,” Rortvedt said. “Such a great teammate and great guy.
Seven isn’t heaven
The Yankees played the final seven games of this season out of playoff contention, which was the most for the franchise during the wild-card era.
They were eliminated for the final three games in 2016, four games in 2014, four games in 2013 and five games in 2008.
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