NY bullpen 2025

[jon abbey]

No better time to start this after NY just acquired Devin Williams, one of the top relievers in MLB (don't look at his postseason numbers, unless you are a BOS fan):

Beeter
Loaisiga
Cousins
Leiter Jr.
Effross
Hamilton
Weaver
Williams

NY is at something like this currently. I'll get more into it once things settle down, I think NY has a bunch more moves still to come.

 

[jon abbey]

Also all eight of those guys are righties, would expect a re-signing of Tim Hill at some point.

 

[loneredseat]

Also all eight of those guys are righties,

Perfect

 

[jon abbey]

Not sure what that means but HOU won a lot of recent AL postseason series with zero lefty relievers. Anyway I literally just suggested Cashman go after Tanner Scott in the other thread, heh.

 

[jon abbey]

If NY makes a CHC deal for Bellinger and/or Hoerner that everyone has been expecting, they could send one or both of Effross/Leiter Jr back, both came in separate deals with CHC. NY traded Wesneski for Effross straight up, so CHC would basically be getting a do-over there after dealing Wesneski today.

 

[jon abbey]

Matt Blake said the hope is Jonathan Loáisiga is back in late April or early May.

 

[jon abbey]

Also NY signed Colten Brewer to a minor league deal yesterday, he actually opened the 2023 season on the NY roster but fell victim to numbers crunch a few weeks in. He has exciting potential (big Stuff+ numbers) and not much actual success.

 

[Wingack]

Toss Fernando Cruz into the mix.

 

[jon abbey]

Beeter
Loaisiga
Cousins
Leiter Jr. or Effross
Cruz
Hamilton
Weaver
Williams

Cashman always ends up bringing in a bunch of guys with MLB experience to stockpile in Scranton, so I will wait to do a deeper depth chart.

 

[mefck]

Beeter
Loaisiga
Cousins
Leiter Jr. or Effross
Cruz
Hamilton
Weaver
Williams

Cashman always ends up bringing in a bunch of guys with MLB experience to stockpile in Scranton, so I will wait to do a deeper depth chart.

This is the best mix they’ve had at this point in the offseason as far back as I can remember (post Rivera).

 

[jon abbey]

Oh actually Loaisiga won't be ready so still at 8 there:

"Matt Blake said the hope is Jonathan Loáisiga is back in late April or early May."

 

[Wingack]

Williams, Weaver, Cruz is a ton of strikeouts at the end of a game.

 

[jon abbey]

People talked last season about NY’s bullpen not having enough swing and miss and wow has Cashman addressed that. Leiter Jr last deadline and Cruz now, plus Devin Williams would lead this list at 15.8 but didn’t throw enough innings.

View: https://twitter.com/yankeewrld/status/1870312682521268443?s=46&t=0GHHaPVUX26Io0V2HIcS0g

 

[BaseballJones]

Good article on Devin Williams here.

But one quibble. It talks about the side movement on his changeup.

"For Williams, it all starts with The Airbender. Williams grips it like a changeup and its 84-mph average velocity plays off his fastball like a changeup. But it's a changeup with an exceptionally high spin rate that breaks to his arm side -- opposite from the typical changeup -- making it resemble a screwball or a left-hander's sweeping slider. It is without precedent."

Uh...... changeups almost always break to the pitcher's arm side. Pedro's darted down and to the right. Glavine's darted down and to the left. One reason why pitchers throw changeups a lot to opposite-handed hitters (LHP to RHB, and RHP to LHB) is because the pitch moves away from the hitter, and towards the pitcher's arm side.

So WTF is this article talking about?

Watch Pedro explain how he threw a changeup and how he teaches it.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucZk9xJ0-aM


At the 1:00 mark he talks about how the pitch dives, and watch his hand show how it dives. It's to his arm side. He even describes how to pronate the wrist a little to get more of that sideways (to the arm side) motion.

Then watch him in the 1999 ASG.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RN1nUnCr1QM


First pitch, changeup. It starts off the outside part of the plate and moves towards the hitter (Pedro's arm side). Same thing on the pitch to Bagwell, but this one starts off more in the middle of the plate and dives in under his hands.

Now watch Glavine, a lefty. Harder to tell the movement because of the camera angle, but at 0:30 you see his changeup. Moves down and away from righties, or towards Glavine's arm side.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlSSRXK2qDE


So what in the world is this article saying? I get that Williams has a great changeup. But the idea that it's some unique changeup because it moves to his arm side is just ridiculous. That's how it almost always works with a good changeup, and lots of guys throughout baseball history have had great changeups.

 

[jon abbey]

I think it's that it's his arm side coupled with how much it moves, although of course it's kind of silly to compare a reliever's pitches to a starter's.

"Not so for Williams, who throws the highest-spin “changeup” on record by more than a tiny bit. Consider this: The average changeup, since 2015, spins at 1,769 RPM. Only a small handful get north of 2,200; only four get even up to 2,400. Williams? 2,752 RPM, hundreds of RPM ahead of second-place Trevor Richards."

"So, what is the Airbender? It’s a pitch that breaks more than almost any pitch, breaks in the “wrong” direction from a righty pitcher, and, lest we forget, drops eight inches more than other righty changeups. Pair that with the ability to throw a fastball that sometimes get up to 97-98 mph, and you’re starting to see what’s happening here."

https://www.mlb.com/news/devin-williams-airbender-pitch-explainer

 

[BaseballJones]

It may move more than Pedro's change, but go back and watch prime Pedro - his changeup moved a ton and always to his arm side. Also, Pedro threw 97 (99 at peak). His two-pitch arsenal is similar to Pedro's.

Of course......Pedro is the GOAT, so that means Williams has a pretty nasty repertoire.

I'm just pushing back on the article's claim that what makes Williams' change so unique is that it moves to his arm side. The article says that a change breaking to the arm side is the "opposite from the typical changeup". No, no it's not. That's how almost all changeups work. Just not as violently as Williams'.