Palladino: Yankees' Girardi Should Give Betances The Closer Job
By Ernie Palladino
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Perhaps this righty-lefty stuff Joe Girardi seems intent on using to close out games will work after all.
Then again, it could prove to be a huge mistake. Given the Yanks' tiny margin for error in this critical 2015 season, any slip-up along the way will only magnify their problems.
Generally, it's always good if a team has one man ensconced in the closer role. But with right-hander Dellin Betances and lefty Andrew Miller both apparently capable of handling ninth-inning duties, at least in Girardi's mind, the manager has taken to using them interchangeably.
If the right-handed meat of an opposing lineup comes up in the eighth, Betances will get the call and Miller will close. If it comes up in the ninth, Miller takes the setup role and Betances closes.
It sounds reasonable enough on paper, and it worked in reality during Wednesday's 4-3 win over the Blue Jays. With Toronto sending up big righties Jose Bautista, Edwin Encarnacion and Josh Donaldson in the eighth, Betances got the call.
Though he struggled some, walking two and allowing an unearned run on Brian McCann's throwing error, he got out of the inning on 32 pitches. Miller needed only 10 in the ninth to pick up the save.
It's Betances' less-than-clean inning, however, that offers concern. A short reliever throwing that many pitches limits next-day options. Girardi was lucky that the situation came in the beginning of the season, where off-days and rainouts will be plentiful. Using that type of arrangement in the everyday grind of summer might not work so well.
The bigger issue is that true closers all have a certain mentality for their jobs. The ninth inning is theirs. They know it. The manager knows it. They sit in the bullpen anticipating the call, envisioning the situation, making it all happen in the mind.
Upending those mental gymnastics could have a negative effect on the player the manager is relying on to get those last three outs; four if circumstances force an extended appearance.
Regular closers hate the F-word -- flexibility.
But that's exactly what Girardi dropped on both Betances and Miller Wednesday.
"They want us to be flexible," Miller told MLB.com. "My job is to be flexible because they asked for that, and I think that makes perfect sense. I'm perfectly satisfied with the way they've prepared us. It's our jobs to get outs when called upon. That's all we know."
Miller's view is certainly one way of looking at it. But remember, he was always regarded, ideally, as Betances' setup man. It's a lot different looking from the eighth into the ninth for a situational save than preparing oneself for the ninth, only to be called on in the eighth. That's what Betances faced Wednesday.
Girardi had his pitchers well-prepared, having told Betances that he would get Bautista whenever his turn came up.
But whether that works over the long run is debatable. Last year, 29 pitchers had 20 or more save opportunities. Though a couple of them compiled their stats with two different teams, the majority were planted as closers. Not one of the 28 teams represented split that role.
Wednesday might simply have been a strategic ploy to get the Yanks on track after Masahiro Tanaka's disastrous opening-day appearance. Or it could be Girardi turning the unwritten rule book on its head and using Betances and Miller as interchangeable parts.
In the long run, that would probably serve neither pitcher well. Unlike any other reliever, closers are creatures of habit. They need the mental security that the knowledge of one's role provides.
Flexibility isn't a real option for them. And given the Yanks' need to get back to the playoffs, neither is innovation.
So for now, let's just leave it at this. Girardi needed something to give his team a boost, and he got it with the Betances-to-Miller progression.
Now he should go back to the book.
The one that will tell him to let Betances do his job in the ninth.
