How Good Are The 2017 Yankees?

Snodgrass'Muff

oppresses WARmongers
SoSH Member
Mar 11, 2008
27,644
Roanoke, VA
Not sure I personally buy all of this, but this Fangraphs piece is very high on the current Yankee team:

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/no-one-will-want-to-face-these-yankees/
I think this article is pretty spot on. The Yankees have struggled with consistency this year, which is something that young teams do, but it looks like they are either on a well timed hot streak, or perahps, like the 2015 Red Sox, that new core has settled in and is ready to genuinely be the core.

I don't think I'd rather face the Indians if the Sox are lucky enough to move on to the ALCS, but getting the Yankees instead isn't really the consolation prize I'd be hoping for. It's a very talented and very dangerous team who can beat anyone in a 5 or 7 game series.

Aside from the cherry picking of using k/9 to display how great the pen has been, that all makes perfect sense.

You can attribute that 9 win differential to a couple explainable things. 1) Chapman’s unexpected blown saves 2) w/l record in 1 run games and 3) My game thread titles
It's K%, not K/9 in the article, which is a distinction worth making. And anyway, strikeout ability is actually a pretty good way to measure a bullpen's effectiveness. The two most important things to look for in relievers, IMO, are how often they can miss bats, and how often they can avoid walking batters. And if you are good enough at the former, you have more room for error with the latter.

The Yankees are, arguably, the best strike out bullpen in the game. By K/9 they have 2 in the top 7 and 3 in the top 14. By K% they have numbers 4 and 5 on the list, then check in again at number 17. As a unit they are tied with the Astros at the top of the league with a 10.93 K/9 and have a slight edge over the Astros for the top spot in K%.

If I was assembling a team for the playoffs by picking entire units (line up, rotation, bullpen, bench), there aren't many I'd take over the Yankees' pen.
 

Murderer's Crow

Dragon Wangler 216
SoSH Member
Jul 15, 2005
23,473
Garden City
I think this article is pretty spot on. The Yankees have struggled with consistency this year, which is something that young teams do, but it looks like they are either on a well timed hot streak, or perahps, like the 2015 Red Sox, that new core has settled in and is ready to genuinely be the core.

I don't think I'd rather face the Indians if the Sox are lucky enough to move on to the ALCS, but getting the Yankees instead isn't really the consolation prize I'd be hoping for. It's a very talented and very dangerous team who can beat anyone in a 5 or 7 game series.



It's K%, not K/9 in the article, which is a distinction worth making. And anyway, strikeout ability is actually a pretty good way to measure a bullpen's effectiveness. The two most important things to look for in relievers, IMO, are how often they can miss bats, and how often they can avoid walking batters. And if you are good enough at the former, you have more room for error with the latter.

The Yankees are, arguably, the best strike out bullpen in the game. By K/9 they have 2 in the top 7 and 3 in the top 14. By K% they have numbers 4 and 5 on the list, then check in again at number 17. As a unit they are tied with the Astros at the top of the league with a 10.93 K/9 and have a slight edge over the Astros for the top spot in K%.

If I was assembling a team for the playoffs by picking entire units (line up, rotation, bullpen, bench), there aren't many I'd take over the Yankees' pen.
The distinction is worth making but tells a singular story that misses on what you touched. The walk rates and inconsistency. I’m confident that at any point we have 3 of the most dominant guys in any bullpen, but I’m never confidence who those 3 will be.
 

BaseballJones

ivanvamp
SoSH Member
Oct 1, 2015
24,369
I think this article is pretty spot on. The Yankees have struggled with consistency this year, which is something that young teams do, but it looks like they are either on a well timed hot streak, or perahps, like the 2015 Red Sox, that new core has settled in and is ready to genuinely be the core.

I don't think I'd rather face the Indians if the Sox are lucky enough to move on to the ALCS, but getting the Yankees instead isn't really the consolation prize I'd be hoping for. It's a very talented and very dangerous team who can beat anyone in a 5 or 7 game series.



It's K%, not K/9 in the article, which is a distinction worth making. And anyway, strikeout ability is actually a pretty good way to measure a bullpen's effectiveness. The two most important things to look for in relievers, IMO, are how often they can miss bats, and how often they can avoid walking batters. And if you are good enough at the former, you have more room for error with the latter.

The Yankees are, arguably, the best strike out bullpen in the game. By K/9 they have 2 in the top 7 and 3 in the top 14. By K% they have numbers 4 and 5 on the list, then check in again at number 17. As a unit they are tied with the Astros at the top of the league with a 10.93 K/9 and have a slight edge over the Astros for the top spot in K%.

If I was assembling a team for the playoffs by picking entire units (line up, rotation, bullpen, bench), there aren't many I'd take over the Yankees' pen.
I agree, and yet it's amazing that the Red Sox' bullpen has significantly outperformed the Yankees' bullpen this season in some key areas. Here are some relevant bullpen only stats:

ERA
Bos: 3.09
NY: 3.44

WHIP
Bos: 1.15
NY: 1.19

SV%
Bos: 68.5%
NY: 59.7%

The Yankees' pen is better in striking people out and has a better ops against, but still.

In the playoffs, you're really talking about like the top four guys. And with that as the measuring stick, other than Kimbrel, I'd take the top four Yankees before any other Red Sox' reliever.