Help is on the way for the Yankees bullpen

The Yankees bullpen entered this season with massive expectations. To date, they’ve actually been the team’s Achilles heel.

Aaron Boone entered the season believing his team could lean heavily on its bullpen. And while New York has been one of the best teams in MLB this year, its relieving corps has been a massive disappointment.

The major culprits of the group’s ineffective pitching have been Dellin Betances and David Robertson. Both pitchers entered the season with solid track records as very effective relievers. Neither has come close to reaching their full potential on the young season. Betances has one of the worst ERA’s on the team at 5.63. Robertson has been a little better, but his mark of 4.19 has still been significantly above his career average.

Fortunately for the Yankees’ setup men, Aroldis Chapman has held up his end of the bargain. He’s been his usual dominant self in the ninth inning. Chapman has struck out two batters per inning this season and leads the bullpen with a sterling ERA of just 1.59.

In fairness to this group, they’ve been overworked. Injuries have forced the majority of the staff to shoulder a few more innings than they should under ideal circumstances. The good news for Boone and his pitching staff is that help is on the way.

Both Adam Warren and Tommy Kahnle are progressing in their respective recoveries. Warren seems to be set to return first. He’ll throw off a mound in Tampa on Monday. If all goes well, that will position him to head out on a rehabilitation assignment soon.

His return will give Boone another option in the middle innings. He was never a quality starter for the Yankees, but his conversion to relief has done wonders for his effectiveness. His stuff isn’t quite up to the Chapman/Betances/Robertson standard, but his return will lessen the pitching load on that talented trio.

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Kahnle’s return may be a bit further off, but it will still be a welcome development for the club. He wasn’t throwing the ball great prior to his injury, but will give Boone another pitcher who can soak up innings in relief. Kahnle is more of a middle-inning option for the team but he’s still a key piece for the bullpen.

In the end, Yankee fans shouldn’t be overly concerned about the state of their bullpen. The performance of New York relievers is very likely to progress to the mean. The odds of improvement will increase quickly once Boone has his full complement of relievers to choose from again.