The New York Yankees seem content with the construction of their starting rotation heading into the dead of winter and the Hot Stove league.
However, general manager Brian Cashman seems intent on attempting to solidify and hold on to the bullpen he has, with re-signing closer David Robertson a top priority.
As Bill Madden of the New York Daily News observes, "it’s a changing game where, as both the Royals and the Giants demonstrated, the bullpen is everything now. As Cashman discovered last year when CC Sabathia went down and was hardly missed, and the subsequent loss of Masahiro Tanaka was likewise hardly felt, you don’t need a 250-inning, 20-win horse to compete."
"It’s nice if you have one (or two if you’re the Los Angeles Dodgers), but the vast majority of starting pitchers now are out of the games after six innings and/or 100 pitches, and if you don’t have the relievers who can consistently get you those last nine outs, you’re sunk," Madden continued.
Rather than focusing on the front end of the pitching staff, Cashman seems likely to attack contract talks with Robertson full bore. Keeping him in the 'pen along with emerging star Dellin Betances could be the key in helping the Yankees cultivate one of the deepest young bullpens in Major League Baseball.
By doing so, he hopes to bring the Yankees back to the plateau that teams like the Giants and Royals currently occupy.
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