The New York Yankees may be about to make a significant change after an ugly loss on Tuesday night.
Manager Aaron Boone left the door open to removing Clay Holmes from the closer role after another blown save. Holmes gave up a walk-off grand slam to Wyatt Langford in a 7-4 victory, marking his 11th blown save of the season and his third in the last month.
The meltdown left Boone admitting that a change might be considered despite his recent defense of Holmes in the role.
“I’m not going to answer that right now when we’re raw and emotional,” Boone said, via Chris Kirschner of The Athletic. “We’ll talk through it and do what we think is the best thing. … We have options down there, and we’ll consider everything.”
Boone has options, but the lack of a clear and obvious replacement certainly makes things harder for him. Luke Weaver and Jake Cousins have pitched well in the bullpen this year, but neither of them have closing experience. Neither does veteran Tommy Kahnle, though he at least has been an established back-end reliever for a number of years.
Holmes’ surface numbers are decent — even after Tuesday’s outing — his ERA is a respectable 3.27. However, the number of blown saves is worrisome, and it is another frustrating case where perhaps a roster upgrade might have benefitted the team.
