Chad Green

Green endured a rocky 2019 and was even demoted for a stretch that season, but he re-established himself as a key member of the Yankees' bullpen in 2020. He held opposing hitters to a .141 BA and posted an 8.0 BB%, a career high but not far off from his career norm. His K% was again north of 30% as Green overhauled his secondary pitch, throwing more of a curveball instead of a slider to strong results. His average fastball was down a tick and the long ball was an issue, with Green surrendering a total of six HR in 31 innings (postseason included). The traditional estimators will punish him for a .145 BABIP, which is abnormally low, but Statcast says that success on balls in play was deserved (Green ranked in the top 2% of the league in xBA, xwOBA and xwOBACON). Zack Britton is clearly the next man up behind Aroldis Chapman, but that doesn't mean there isn't a spot for Green in a lot of leagues.

On April 23, Green was optioned to the minors. At the time, he was sporting a 16.43 ERA and 2.48 WHIP. Green didn't sulk, instead he posted a 2.45 ERA and 0.99 WHIP with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, fanning 14 with just two walks in 7.1 innings. The Yankees called him up May 12 and Green proceeded to log a 2.64 ERA and 1.08 WHIP the rest of the way with 91 whiffs and 15 free passes in 61.1 innings. Green functioned equally well as a multi-inning middleman and late-inning reliever, as well as in the newfangled primary pitcher role. Despite possessing closer stuff as demonstrated by a dominant 26 K-BB%, Green is more useful deployed in multiple roles, leaving ninth-inning duties to Aroldis Chapman. While there's always the danger of a stretch like Green endured to open the 2019 campaign, he's one of the better non-closer relievers to help stabilize ratios while accruing strikeouts.

Many will talk about closers being a combination of skills-plus-opportunity with a mixture of guile. That recipe is what is needed to get the role, and Green has it in spades. He is just cursed with being on the wrong team as the Yankees have a deep bullpen with several more proven ninth-inning options. Green could close for any other team in the majors right now, but the Yankees are not going to let him go anywhere because he is a dominant part of the bridge to the endgame. Green's 26.5 K-BB% ranked 11th among qualified relievers last season, and there are no issues with splits. The only flaw would be the nine homers, only four of which came at home, but some homers are to be expected of someone who is so fastball dominant with his repertoire. Expect more middle-relief wins, solid ratios and plenty of strikeouts from him in 2019, but the saves are still likely a few years in the future.

Green was a swingman for the Yankees in 2016. The ERA was ugly, but it did have an alibi because he was not meant to be a starter. The strikeout rate and walk rates were starter worthy, but fastball/slider pitchers need both pitches to be excellent to go without a third pitch. Green did not have that, but the move to the bullpen allowed him to come in and throw fastballs with regularity as he threw the ol’ number one 70 percent of the time last season. The crazy-high home run rate normalized in 2017 (0.52 HR/9) and Green became a valuable commodity in only leagues with five wins, sparkling ratios and 100-plus strikeouts in relief. His 2018 role will be more of the same as the bullpen should come back intact. Each season has a few relievers with phenomenal skills but no clear path to saves; Green is at the top of that list for 2018.

The Yankees traded for Green last offseason, who to that point was a fairly unheralded prospect that had never made it above the Double-A level. The 25-year-old ended up posting a spectacular 1.52 ERA in his first taste of Triple-A action in 2016 and leveraged that success into a spot in the big league club's starting rotation down the back stretch. Though things didn't always go as smoothly in the majors -- he especially struggled keeping the ball in the yard (2.4 HR/9) -- the young righty was able to miss bats and ended the year with 52 strikeouts in 45.2 innings. Unfortunately, Green's season was cut short by a UCL sprain and strained flexor tendon suffered in early September, and while he is expected to avoid surgery, it's unclear if he will be 100 percent by the time spring training rolls around. Once healthy, Green could be handed a spot in a somewhat shallow rotation, profiling as a No. 4 or No. 5 starter.