Indians took Yankees scraps and turned them into bullpen gold
Chad Green is the rare Yankee to come from the minors in the past three years to help the bullpen; his emergence a key in helping to form a dynamic pen.
However, the Yankees have cycled through a lot of arms to try to fill the 11th and 12th spots on their staff without much success. This season, relievers such as Jonathan Holder, Ben Heller, Gio Gallegos and Bryan Mitchell failed to fully earn Joe Girardi’s trust and, thus, hold a regular job.
In 2016 the group that failed included Blake Parker, James Pazos, Anthony Swarzak, Kirby Yates, Nick Goody and Tyler Olson. You know what all of those guys also have in common? They had good years elsewhere in 2017, Goody and Olson for the Indians team the Yankees are facing in the Division Series.
Brian Cashman said he had no theory on why this occurred. Perhaps it is that in New York there is a short leash and greater pressure, so a lack of quick, consistent success is met with demotion.
So when it came to Goody and Olson, did the Indians see something the Yankees didn’t?
“We didn’t say there was a 100-percent certainty they could contribute,” Indians GM Mike Chernoff said. “But they had items we liked.”
Cleveland obtained Goody from the Yankees last December for Yoiber Maquina. He had a 2.80 ERA in 56 games for the Indians, averaging just 6.4 hits plus 11.9 strikeouts per nine innings.
“Nick had good strikeout rates and a good breaking ball and we felt if we could increase his (breaking ball) usage, we could have something, especially against righties,” Chernoff said.
Goody actually threw his slider the same 47.5 percent of the time this year as last year and was very good against righties, but terrific (.590 OPS) vs. lefties.
The Indian pen is so deep he was not put on the Division Series roster. Olson, after not yielding a run in 30 appearances (20 innings), is on the roster. The southpaw held lefties to a .460 OPS.
Olson has been through six organizations. He was in the Yankee organization twice, getting traded with Ronald Torreyes from the Dodgers in January 2016 and being picked up on waivers in June of last year only to be lost a month later on waivers to the Indians.
“We put Olson through waivers last year and anybody could have had him and he cleared, so we’re not geniuses,” Chernoff said. “Lots of teams could have had him because he has a funky delivery and had the ingredients to get lefties out.”