Ten days into the new season, the New York Yankees look exactly like the team we all thought they would be: a powerhouse and a bona fide World Series contender. The Yankees beat the Red Sox on Saturday night (NYY 5, BOS 2) and improved to 6-1 on the young season. Their current five-game winning streak is the longest in baseball this year.
The Yankees did suffer a significant loss during this winning streak. Setup man Tommy Kahnle, a right-handed changeup artist who is manager Aaron Boone's go-to weapon against big lefty bats in the late innings, injured his elbow and will soon undergo Tommy John surgery. Kahnle struck out the side last Sunday, felt forearm tightness Tuesday, and couldn't play catch at all Wednesday.
"He's probably headed for surgery. Your heart goes out to Tommy, knowing it's a significant injury that has to get taken care of right now," Boone said Friday. "We're going to have to pick up the slack. Tommy is an elite reliever in the league. Some guys are going to have to step up and pick up some important outs along the way."
Some guys did step and pick up some important outs Saturday. Zack Britton, Chad Green, and Adam Ottavino were all unavailable due to their recent workloads, yet the Yankees cobbled together 6 1/3 scoreless innings from their bullpen anyway. Journeyman David Hale recorded a six-out save and righty Nick Nelson tossed three hitless frames in his MLB debut.
"(We have) a lot of the young arms that are knocking on the door and Nelson's one of those," Boone said Saturday. "And he was great tonight. You saw the high velocity fastball really playing up at the top of the zone. A really good changeup, which is a really good pitch for him ... I thought he was terrific."
The Yankees have already used 17 different pitchers this season, the ninth most in baseball even though they had two games wiped out by the Marlins COVID-19 outbreak earlier this week. They've still managed to hold their opponents to no more than two runs in four of their seven games. Five times they've held them to three runs or fewer.
Hale had the two-inning save and Nelson had the three-inning appearance Saturday. Swingman Jonathan Loaisiga had made a three-inning start and a three-inning relief appearance already this season. Luis Avilan, an offseason minor-league contract pickup, has struck out three of the five lefties he's faced. The second-tier relievers have been great early on.
The Yankees have bullpen help on the way too. Closer Aroldis Chapman was cleared to rejoined the team Friday after testing positive for COVID-19 in summer camp. He quarantined at home in the interim. Once Chapman is activated -- he'll need some time to get game ready -- Boone's bullpen will look something like this:
- Closer: LHP Aroldis Chapman
- Setup: LHP Zack Britton
- Middle: RHP Chad Green, RHP Adam Ottavino
- Multi-inning: RHP David Hale, RHP Jonathan Loaisiga, RHP Nick Nelson
Right-hander Luis Cessa, a perfectly cromulent long man, threw a simulated game earlier this weekend and is on track to rejoin the Yankees soon as well. He tested positive for COVID-19 during intake testing. Once Cessa returns, Boone will have one more multi-inning option available.
Ideally Chapman and Cessa would have joined Kahnle in the bullpen. Kahnle's injury means that is no longer possible, so getting Chapman and Cessa back right as Kahnle goes down is the next best thing. The bullpen remains four deep in the late innings, and when hard-throwers like Loaisiga and Nelson are maybe your fifth and sixth best relievers, you're in good shape.
The Yankees showed they are experts at navigating injuries last year, when they placed an MLB record 30 different players on the injured list. That's because their internal replacement level is so high. It's not just their payroll either. Nelson was a fourth-round pick, Avilan and Hale were minor-league signings, and Loaisiga was signed out of a tryout camp years ago. They built depth in a variety of ways.
Having one of the highest scoring offenses in baseball certainly takes some pressure off the bullpen. Aaron Judge has gone deep in four straight games and Giancarlo Stanton's Comeback Player of the Year campaign is off to a great start. The bullpen remains the team's backbone, however. The Yankees are designed to get early leads and smother the other team with power relief arms.
That will be more difficult without Kahnle, no doubt. That said, New York's resourcefulness and bevy of hard-throwers puts the team in position to overcome losing Kahnle. And, once Chapman returns, the Yankees' bullpen will still be as deep as any in the game. The star talent gets all the attention, but that level of depth is what makes the Yankees as dangerous a team as any in 2020.
