Seton Hall
The Yankees are Doomed
Date: September 28, 2022By: Joseph Morales
This article was written on 9/21/2022
Sarah Stier/Getty Images
Okay, maybe I’m exaggerating. There are still 15 games left to play, but my concerns about the Yankees keep me up at night.
The month of August was a disaster. The Yankees went 10-18, the second worst record in the American league in the month. Only the Detroit Tigers, who are bound for another 100-loss season, finished with a worse record.
Key players including Anthony Rizzo, Giancarlo Stanton, Andrew Benintendi, Matt Carpenter, and Luis Severino, went down with injuries. There wasn’t a part of the team that wasn’t affected, and a team that was winning at a record pace just weeks before, now looked like a group of overachievers.
Overachiever. This is the perfect word to describe Clay Holmes, the sinkerball relief pitcher whose downfall seems to be the thorn in the side of the Yankees, and what stands between them and the Commissioner's Trophy.
Before he was traded to the Yankees in July 2021, Holmes owned a staggering 5.57 ERA in three and a half seasons as a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Many Yankees fans were confused when GM Brian Cashman made the move.
They were quieted quickly when Holmes pitched to a 1.61 ERA to finish off the 2021 campaign, and after Aroldis Chapman struggled closing out games early in 2022, Holmes took the job and ran with it.
After he gave up a run on opening day, Holmes didn’t let up another earned run until June 20. He was by far the best closer in baseball, which didn’t sit well with my friends who were Mets fans, who had been watching Edwin Diaz go on his own magical run. I think at one point I said Clay Holmes was better than Edwin Diaz, ouch!
Clay Holmes>>>> Edwin Diaz
— Joe Morales (@Joemorales_1) June 10, 2022
Fast forward to July 12, the unofficial end to the Yankees season. I had the privilege of being at Yankee Stadium that Tuesday evening. The Yankees are taking care of the putrid Cincinnati Reds and led 3-0 going into the top of the 9th.
Clay Holmes proceeded to meltdown by giving up four runs in the inning and the Yankees lost the game. Holmes ERA shot up an entire run that night and since then it hasn’t been the same.
Insanity. The Reds have won five straight on a day where they were completely outmatched for 8 innings
— Just Baseball (@JustBBMedia) July 13, 2022
Clay Holmes implodes and gives the Reds a chance to pull this one out and get the dub pic.twitter.com/T9BS0MsYUc
Since that game on July 12, Holmes has pitched a 6.53 ERA, while yielding 14 walks in 20.2 innings. Not good.
Us Yankee fans have known for a while that Clay Holmes isn’t the answer to close games, yet Aaron Boone has called for him to pitch in almost every high leverage spot. He hasn’t had an outing since September 5 in which he hasn’t either allowed a baserunner or an earned run.
By the middle of September, playoff teams need to know who’s pitching where in October. But here we are, with no reliable arms to close games and a rotating door of setup men who occasionally implode in the 7th and 8th innings.
With 15 games left, The Yankees can answer those questions. Lou Trivino, the relief pitcher acquired in the same trade with Frankie Montas, has pitched to a brilliant 1.13 ERA during his time with the Yankees.
His numbers and his history of pitching late into games with Oakland make him a great choice to handle the 9th inning duties.
Do I think the Yankees will do the right thing and name him closer? No. Aaron Boone and his geek squad don’t like being proved wrong. Remember how often he wrote Joey Gallo into the lineup card?
Yes, the Yankees are doomed.
Joseph Morales can be reached at joseph.morales@student.shu.edu.
