The New York Yankees announced on Friday that RP Jonathan Loaisiga is going on the 60-day injured list due to a right flexor strain. He’s expected to miss months and manager Aaron Boone sounded concerned when speaking on the injury. Loaisiga is arguably the Yankees most important bullpen arm and now the team will have to sustain success without him. With Loaisiga out long-term, will New York be fine in the later innings or will this be cause for concern? We take a look.
On the surface, the Yankees should be OK. It’s obviously not ideal losing an arm like Loaisiga. Through 4.0 innings pitched this season, he hadn’t allowed an earned run with three strikeouts. Loaisiga was a bit shaky against the Astros in the opening series but worked out of trouble. With the right-hander sidelined, let’s look at the Yankees bullpen depth a bit.
Yankees bullpen depth chart
Closer: Clay Holmes
Setup man: Caleb Ferguson/Ian Hamilton
Other depth: Victor Gonzalez, Nick Burdi, Luke Weaver, Clayton Beeter, Jake Cousins, Dennis Santana
The Yankees had been alternating setup pitchers in front of Holmes in the 9th. We saw Ferguson and Hamilton in that role in some instances. Ferguson being the lefty specialist. Hamilton has been fantastic, so he should get a lot more work with Loaisiga sidelined. Though, expect Boone to be careful with Holmes and Hamilton. Losing one of them could spell disaster for the bullpen. Santana was the move to replace Loaisiga on the pen. He had a 3.35 FIP for the Rangers a few seasons ago in 58.2 IP.
There’s also Ron Marinaccio, who is working his way back into form in the minors to start the season. He was very good for the Yanks in 2022 as a rookie but regressed last season. He’s pitched a few shutout innings for AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Marinaccio likely isn’t ready to jump right up to the big leagues again. But he could be an option down the line in June/July if he shows he’s ready.
Final Thoughts
There’s no need to panic, at least right now. The Yankees could explore trade options to add an arm but have been good developing talent from the bullpen. Beeter could be asked to do more. Burdi has been good so far in a small sample. Weaver has been good as the long-reliever but perhaps Boone uses him in shorter spurts as the 7th-inning man if Ferguson or Hamilton needs a day off. As long as the Yankee starters get to the 5th or 6th inning in starts, it shouldn’t put too much strain on the pen. Hopefully once Carlos Rodon and Nestor Cortes settle down, they can stretch out starts into the 6th and 7th consistently.
