Do you think the current Yankee bullpen is bad? Believe it or not, it has been a lot worse in recent years and never prohibited them from going to the postseason.
Mark Feinsand breaks down the Yankee bullpens since the end of the dynasty and makes a very good argument that the current group is the best they've had in years (despite Vizcaino, Villlone, and Farnsworth consistently stinking up the joint).
I keep hearing how the Yankees' bullpen is their great Achilles heel, but having watched this team for the past seven seasons, I have to disagree. Sure, some of the relievers have struggled and might be less than perfect (Vizcaino, Farnsworth), but I like the group of Rivera (duh), Proctor, Bruney, Myers, Villone and Henn to get the job done on most days.
In April, when the starters could barely make it out of the fifth inning on a daily basis, the bullpen was overworked out of necessity. But when the starters work deep in games, the bullpen looks a lot better. In May, Proctor's ERA was 1.50 in 13 games, while Bruney posted a 1.64 in 10 outings. Rivera bounced back from his horrendous first month to put up a 1.74 ERA; heck, even Farnsworth's ERA was a respectable 3.86 last month.
Right now, the Yankee bullpen may not be spectacular -- but it's a helluva lot better than virtually every other group of bums the Yanks have run out there since they last won a World Series in 2000.
I had to laugh reading some of those names because there are more than a few that just blew my mind. I can't believe the Yanks actually trusted some of these guys to get MLB hitters out.
Now, it's time to replace Vizcaino with Britton and take your chances for the next couple of months. Hopefully, they will stay in the race for the long haul and Cashman will be able to pick up another arm at the trade deadline.