2016 Yankees Roster Report Card: Miscellaneous pitchers

There is one last group of Yankees pitchers at the MLB level who have yet to be reviewed in this series. So they’re all getting knocked out in one fell swoop with shorter evaluations. They are all either rookies or simply pre-arbitration eligible, so the 2017 roster status category is omitted. It’s unclear how many of these players will be with the Yankees in spring training 2017 anyway.

Jacob Lindgren, Branden Pinder, Nick Rumbelow, and Conor Mullee were not included since they all ended up in the same boat, going down with season-ending elbow operations. Kirby Yates, Blake Parker, and Anthony Swarzak have all departed the organization already. (For the record, Swarzak still gets a big fat F.)

Without further ado, in order of Yankees appearances:

Chasen Shreve

Grade: D-

2016 Statistics: 37 G, 33 IP, 5.18 ERA, 5.75 FIP, 9.0 K/9, 3.5 BB/9, 1.27 WHIP (MLB)
13 G, 16 ²⁄₃ IP, 1.62 ERA, 2.81 FIP, 10.8 K/9, 3.8 BB/9, 0.66 WHIP (AAA)

It is really a shame what happened to Shreve over the past 14 months. The lefty had a 1.89 ERA through the end of August last year, got annihilated in September, and hoping for a rebound in 2016, saw his season turn into a complete wash. Few players at the big league level were fooled, and instead of sticking around the full campaign, he made several trips on the Scranton Shuttle. The only factors saving Shreve’s grade from an F were his strikeout totals and fine Triple-A numbers in limited action. He will have a lot to prove in 2017 to simply win a bullpen spot.

Tommy Layne

Grade: B

2016 Statistics: 63 G, 44 2/3 IP, 3.63 ERA, 3.93 FIP, 7.7 K/9, 4.2 BB/9, 1.30 WHIP (MLB)
29 G, 16 IP, 3.38 ERA, 4.83 FIP, 7.3 K/9, 3.9 BB/9, 1.06 WHIP (NYY)

The Red Sox simply let Layne go at the beginning of August and the Yankees quickly scooped him up. He surprisingly turned out to be perfectly serviceable. He wasn’t exactly a comfortable bullpen option for Joe Girardi, but to his credit, only 20 percent of his inherited runners scored and lefties only managed a .571 OPS against him. At age 31, Layne may or may not return in 2017, but we’ll always have that one tremendous defensive play and big save to keep the team in contention a little while longer.

Nick Goody

Grade: C

2016 Statistics: 27 G, 29 IP, 4.66 ERA, 5.28 FIP, 10.6 K/9, 3.7 BB/9, 1.45 WHIP (MLB)
18 G, 23 ¹⁄₃ IP, 1.93 ERA, 2.91 FIP, 13.5 K/9, 1.5 BB/9, 0.69 WHIP; 1.0 NICE (AAA)

At the very least, Goody did not go down with Tommy John surgery like so many of his minor league bullpen teammates. Then again, he already had the procedure done in 2013. The superlative numbers from Triple-A did not translate to the majors last year, and that trend unfortunately continued in 2016. There was some hope that perhaps Goody could pitch well enough to earn a middle relief spot, but he never really got it going. He oddly did not pitch after September 2nd, though he later left the team early due to a “personal/family issue,” so perhaps that was a factor.

Richard Bleier

Grade: B

2016 Statistics: 23 G, 23 IP, 1.96 ERA, 2.67 FIP, 5.1 K/9, 1.6 BB/9, 1.04 WHIP (MLB)
12 G, 58 IP, 3.72 ERA, 3.38 FIP, 3.9 K/9, 1.7 BB/9, 1.33 WHIP (AAA)

Like Layne, Bleier was a older bullpen option who was perfectly adequate in relief at the major league level after some time in the Scranton rotation. A 29-year-old rookie, the southpaw held lefties to a horrific .150/.209/.200 against him in 45 plate appearances, which alone is almost enough to push him up into decent grading territory. The sparkly 1.96 ERA was a bit of an illusion though, as Bleier did allow 60 percent of his inherited runners to score (granted, it was six of ten, but this whole sample is small anyway). Still, the MLB results matter, and a 1.04 WHIP is certainly a fine job.

Johnny Barbato

Grade: D-

2016 Statistics: 13 G, 13 IP, 7.62 ERA, 4.45 FIP, 10.4 K/9, 3.5 BB/9, 1.39 WHIP (MLB)
31 G, 48 ¹⁄₃ IP, 2.61 ERA, 3.44 FIP, 9.1 K/9, 4.3 BB/9, 1.26 WHIP (AAA)

The right-hander impressed in spring training and was on the Opening Day roster, but after a strong first several appearances, the Red Sox and Orioles hit him hard. He was demoted after May 8th, making just one more outing in the big leagues the rest of the year. In said outing on August 5th, he faced four Cleveland batters, retired none, allowed three runs, and was dismissed to such a degree that he was not even a September call-up. Ouch. Hopefully it was just a few bad days for the 24-year-old, but like Shreve, he has his work cut out finding a bullpen role next year.

James Pazos

Grade: D

2016 Statistics: 7 G, 3 ¹⁄₃ IP, 13.50 ERA, 10.05 FIP, 8.1 K/9, 2.7 BB/9, 2.40 WHIP (MLB)
23 G, 27 ¹⁄₃ IP, 2.63 ERA, 2.73 FIP, 13.5 K/9, 6.3 BB/9, 1.39 WHIP

For some reason, Hal Steinbrenner once called Pazos “untouchable.” It was an odd remark for a relief prospect, no matter how strong he looked. In 2016, he had no control of the strike zone whatsoever early on and only somewhat regained it in the minors after a two-month stint on the DL. The Yankees gave him another shot in September as a LOOGY option, but it wasn’t pretty. So it’s back to square one for the big lefty.