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Palladino: Betances' Spring Problems Should Not Be Shrugged Off

By Ernie Palladino
» More Ernie Palladino Columns

On paper, the back of the Yankees' bullpen should prove as effective as any team in the AL East.

It would probably afford Joe Girardi some nighttime peace if Dellin Betances and Andrew Miller showed that now rather than waiting for the regular season.

Instead, Betances has looked no where near the flamethrower who made the All-Star team as David Robertson's setup man. And Miller has had just a so-so spring.

On the one hand, take both performances for what they're worth. It's spring training. A lot of good pitchers get pounded in these exhibitions because they are working on refining their secondary pitches, or breaking in entirely new ones. Then they dominate the regular season.

So getting one's uniform stirrups all knotted up over spring training results isn't the call here.

But neither should one pass it off as a big nothing, either. Since they let Robertson run off to a four-year, $46 million free agent contract with the White Sox, the Yanks ostensibly have put their closer eggs in Betances' basket, leaving their own free-agent pickup Miller as a secondary option if Betances scrambles them.

Going by Wednesday's 7-2 loss to the Mets, neither would appear a savory option. The last thing Girardi needed to see less than two weeks before Opening Day was Betances, his high-90s velocity down, being taken deep by Juan Lagares and Miller giving up a run on two hits over the four batters he faced in following Betances.

Betances is the real worry here. Things might have sat better with the manager if Wednesday had been an isolated occurrence. But it wasn't. The right-hander who finished 2014 at 5-0, 1.40 with 135 strikeouts over 90 innings has allowed four earned runs and two walks in 5 1/3 innings this spring. The ERA is sky high at 6.75.

Again, it's spring training. But closing problems are the last thing Girardi needs while he holds his breath on the durability of starters Masahiro Tanaka (elbow), CC Sabathia (knee) and Michael Pineda (back and shoulder).

Miller handled numerous roles for Baltimore last year and his 2.84 ERA with five hits and eight strikeouts over 6 1/3 innings this spring hasn't been bad overall. But Betances is more the prototype closer than the left-hander who fanned 103 in 62 1/3 innings last year in seventh and eighth-inning work.

Each has one career save, but it is the former farmhand Betances who was Robertson's assumed successor.

Whether his decline in stats and velocity changes that remains to be seen.

Softening the recent blow was the fact that the pitch Lagares punched over the left field fence was a breaking pitch. Remember again, it's spring training. Betances won't be throwing many of those once the season starts.

The overall dip in velocity, though, could become a concern, even though GM Brian Cashman downplayed it.

"Miller, Betances, (middle relievers) Josh Wilson, and David Carpenter, all with power arms, are sitting around 94 mph," Cashman told the media Wednesday. "All the power arms have been a little lower than particularly are. The relievers are still building their arm strength."

So did Girardi.

"It's still early and he's a power pitcher," Girardi said. "We expect there's going to be more (velocity) at the end of spring training."

That is fast approaching.

If Betances can't straighten himself out over the next 11 days, Girardi will have no choice but to go with Miller as his early-season closer, at least.

It's not a bad option, but not an optimal one.

Given the other problems the Yankees face with age and looming infirmity, Girardi can't afford any hint of late-inning worries as his team begins what he hopes will end as a postseason campaign.

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