Why the Yankees needed David Robertson

Tied for the least wins in baseball since June 13th, the New York Yankees swung one of the biggest deals of this year’s trade deadline by acquiring Todd Frazier, Tommy Kahnle, and former Yankees reliever David Robertson from the Chicago White Sox. This is who the Yankees really traded for — Robertson and Kahnle.

With the loss of starting pitcher Michael Pineda to Tommy John surgery at the All-Star break, the Yankees will look to lean on their bullpen to make up for their relatively weak starting rotation.

Even before the deal with Chicago, New York possessed one of the strongest bullpens in baseball, headlined by Aroldis Chapman and Dellin Betances.

From FanGraphs — this is the projected bullpen wins above replacement for rest of the season (via FanGraphs).

Statistically, the Yankees entered Wednesday ranked second in the league in bullpen wins above replacement. Even without their newest acquisitions, seven of their eight relievers rank in the top half in terms of strikeouts, with five in the top 25, and three in the top 10.

New York’s top eight relievers now — Kahnle, Chapman, Warren, Green, Betances, Robertson, Shreve, and Holder — have an average strikeout rate of 33.2%, which is tops in the league, by far.

Why the Yankees needed Robertson

Although they already boast one of the most effective bullpens in the game, over the last couple months, the back end of their bullpen has fallen short.

While they might have just added the best mid-reliever in the league–in Kahnle, what they really needed was back-end help, to set up Chapman. Chapman and Betances have both struggled to close out games all year, blowing eighteen saves to date — tops in the league.

Chapman

On the surface, Chapman’s fastball has lacked effectiveness. If you look into fastball runs above average (wFA), which is measured by FanGraphs, Chapman’s fastball has steeply declined compared to last year.

Chapman hasn’t got the same production out of his fastball this year.

He’s not striking out nearly as many batters as previous years. Plus his whiff percentage is down almost five percent and in turn mostly due to fastball ineffectiveness, Chapman has struggled to close out games — blowing three saves to date.

Batters are batting almost hitting .390 on balls in play off Chapman too — a sizeable difference from last year, when batters were only batting .268 on balls in play.

These are the two factors really affecting Chapman — lack of strikeouts and reduced whiff percentage (via FanGraphs).

Betances

When relievers struggle with control, their pitches become easy to predict and inconsistencies usually appear. Yes, Betances leads all relievers in strikeouts per nine, but the New York set-up man also leads all qualified relievers in walks per nine — an interesting dichotomy.

Bentances’ pitches have been much less elusive than previous years, similar to Chapman, for example; batters are swinging at pitches outside the strike zone eight percent of the time less than last year.

His overwhelmingly high walk rate and decline in elusiveness have combined to negate some of the All-Star’s productivity — recording five meltdown innings in 31.1 innings pitched.

Robertson’s Impact

Robertson wasn’t the White Sox’s most valuable pitcher before the deal– based on wins above replacement — but he could provide immense value as the eighth inning guy for the Yankees.

In the trade, the Yankees lucked out and were able to dump veteran reliever Tyler Clippard — who, frankly, is having an atrocious year. Robertson will probably fill in as Clippard’s replacement, either setting up Betances in the seventh or fill in where needed.

His experience facing American League East opponents seems valuable, at first thought, but could produce unpredictable results. Either way, Robertson’s veteran presence should bring leadership and consistency to New York’s young and seemingly volatile bullpen.

It’s important for set-up men to be tough on batters who swing on both sides of the plate. One of the abilities Robertson brings to the table just so happens to be an ability to put away righties and lefties.

Robertson is pretty even on righties and lefties if you ask me.

New York’s very much in the Wild Card race and sits only a couple games back of the Red Sox for first place in the AL East, but they still have no room to waver and blow games like they did in June.

When the deal initially went down, most baseball fans thought Todd Frazier would add the most value, locking down the first and third base positions.

But if we factor in both Robertson and Kahnle’s effectiveness thus far this season, along with the Yankees bullpen worries as of late, the two relievers New York just added could be the pieces they need to complete for the American League title.

Bonus GIF

Kahnle’s nast 90-mph change-up. It has provided 3.73 runs above average per 100 pitches thus far this season — up a full run from last year.

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