Yankees playoff roster breakdown: Bullpen

In the 2015 season, the Yankees have had one of the most valuable bullpens in baseball, maintaining a 5.7 WAR on the year. Unfortunately in the second half, they've slipped a bit and now it's unclear as to which relievers they will end up taking with them in the playoffs. There are still a few obvious choices, but a few relievers, and even starters, will be under consideration.

First thing's first, the Yankees will definitely be taking their closer Andrew Miller, setup man Dellin Betances, reliever-turned-starter-turned reliever-turned-starter Adam Warren, and lefty Justin Wilson, who has been outstanding over the last few months. These four alone should be a formidable group at the end of games, but the Yankees still have a few choices to make.

Once considered a lock, Chasen Shreve has a 6.83 FIP and 7.77 BB/9 in the second half of the season, at least partly due to a career-high in innings. He's become so ineffective in the month of September, it almost seems like a good idea to just shut him down for the rest of the year and hope the time off allows him to come back strong in 2016. By the way he's been used, it seems that James Pazos is auditioning to be the situational lefty in the playoff bullpen and so far he's proven to be effective in four innings over nine outings. Based on the way he's talked about Shreve, though, it's still likely that Joe Girardi will take his guy just because he's been there all year.

From there they have another two guaranteed spots if they want a seven-man bullpen. It's very possible that Ivan Nova ends up being one of them, since he won't be starting in the playoffs. It's unclear exactly what kind of role he would have out of the bullpen, but he should be able to go multiple innings and to get some ground balls in limited exposure. Then it also matters what happens with Nathan Eovaldi. It seems unlikely that he'll be able to stretch himself out in time for the playoffs, but it's not clear yet if he'll simply be shut down or get some time in the bullpen in order to help the team. With his ability to hit 100 mph as a starter, he might end up being a major weapon out of the bullpen in the playoffs.

At this point, the bullpen would have seven members, but they could choose to go with eight, since the Yankees don't exactly have a plethora of useful position players. It might be more helpful to have an extra arm, so in that instance Branden Pinder might end up being someone they could use to keep everyone a little fresher over the life of a playoff series. Others who have gotten some exposure in limited time are Nick Rumbelow and Nick Goody, while Caleb Cotham could be an innings eater if they ever need one.

A bullpen of Miller, Betances, Warren, Wilson, Eovaldi, Nova, and Pazos should be a strong group during the team's postseason run. By the nature of a playoff series, it's likely that a few of them might not get significant innings anyway, so it probably won't matter too much. In my opinion, it's probably better to shut Shreve down and go with a fresher option while also relying on starters like Eovaldi and Nova to get some important outs. I imagine it's inevitable that CC Sabathia will have to start a playoff game at this point, but a strong bullpen should make it less of a disaster than it might usually be. In the postseason, everyone's available at all times, so if the Yankees can get a lead, the bullpen should be able to shut down the opposition pretty easily, just like they've done all season long.

Who do you think should be a part of the Yankees playoff bullpen?