NEW YORK – After another Clay Holmes flop on Sunday night against the Tigers – the right-hander’s 10th blown save of the year, a league high – Yankees manager Aaron Boone held on to his closer, but the door began to open for a possible trade.
“We’ll see how it goes,” Boone said Sunday. “We have a lot of really good options. Clay had some bad luck back there that resulted in (10 blown saves) … The fact is he shoots the ball really well. That being said, we have a lot of guys that shoot the ball well in certain situations. Right now, Clay is the best.”
Two days later, before Tuesday’s series opener against the Guardians at Yankee Stadium, Boone was asked again about Holmes.
If the Yankees are in a save situation on Tuesday night, will Holmes be the reliever jogging in from the bullpen?
“It could be,” Boone said. “But I’m going to keep that open and try to get these guys in spots where they fit really well together. So we’ll see.”
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Boone continued to defend Holmes, saying the closer threw the ball “incredibly well” despite his long list of botched saves, adding that many of those late-game meltdowns weren’t entirely his fault.
So does this mean the Yankees will stick with Holmes? Or is it more a question of closer alignment?
“We’ll see,” Boone said. “I do expect it to be Clay a lot of nights, but if I feel like Clay gets a really good matchup in the eighth on a particular night that’s a better fit for what’s coming in the ninth for (Luke Weaver) or Tommy (Kahnle) or whoever, then I’m willing to do that a little more often than I have.”
A look at Holmes’ underlying numbers shows that the right-hander has been better than his ERA (4.80 since May 20) suggests. But Holmes has also struggled in key moments, overshadowing his better periods. His sinker has been a liability after years of being as consistent as any pitcher on the Yankees’ roster.
“He was unlucky,” Boone said. “He didn’t make a throw in some spots where he could have thrown. But when you look at how he’s thrown the ball all year, you can expect him to have success in the future, and that’s my expectation.”
A case-by-case approach to ending games is the best way to do it. Use Holmes in the lanes where his sinker-slider combination works best. If there’s a situation where the Yankees need a double-play ball in a high-leverage position before the ninth inning or have a couple of batters on the line who tend to hit the ball weakly on the ground, use Holmes then. Boone mentioned Weaver and Kahnle as possible pitchers for the ninth inning. Jake Cousins also deserves a look with the game hanging in the balance.
Either way, Boone has no issues with Holmes’ confidence or the changes the right-hander is actively making by using his slow attack more. The same goes for the Yankees’ bullpen as a whole, a unit that has struggled a lot this summer.
“We have a lot of confidence in these guys,” Boone said. “Especially because I think at their best they’re all capable of making really, really big outs for us. And I think they complement each other with their arsenals and the way we can match them. Some guys have gone through rough patches, some things haven’t gone as well as they have for us, but I think we’re very capable.”
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Max Goodman can be reached at [email protected].
