This morning, Jeff wrote about the importance of the final out. It was pretty good timing considering just a couple of hours after his post went live, a former closer came off the market.
According to Ken Rosenthal, former Blue Jays closer Casey Janssen has signed a one-year, $5-million deal with the Nationals. The contract comes with a mutual option with a buyout if the option isn’t picked up. Janssen handled the ninth inning for most of the past three years in Toronto, but his numbers fell sharply in the second half of last season, perhaps because of food poisoning at the All-Star break.
Before the second half of last year, Janssen had been very, very good for three straight seasons, and he’d been pretty good the year before that, so there’s a pretty good track record in place.
For the Yankees, Janssen seemed to represent an opportunity to add a proven closer to an already deep bullpen. One thing the Yankees lack is experience in the ninth inning, and Janssen has that (along with a familiarity with the American League East). The Yankees don’t necessarily need a guy like that — chances are, Andrew Miller or Dellin Betances or even one of the smaller-name relievers can handle the ninth — but late-inning experience is one thing the free agent market can still provide.
Longtime closers Rafael Soriano and Francisco Rodriguez are still out there, as are one-time closers John Axford, Chris Perez, Jose Veras, Kevin Gregg and Brian Wilson. Solid middle reliever Burke Badenhop is still out there (so is Joba Chamberlain if the Yankees wanted to try that again), and there are a few lefties — Phil Coke, Joe Thatcher, Franklin Morales, Joe Beimel, Neal Cotts — if the Yankees wanted to add a more typical left-on-left specialist, leaving Justin Wilson to pitch more like a middle reliever and leaving Chasen Shreve to serve as depth in Triple-A.
The Yankees really don’t seem to need additional bullpen help, but there are a lot of options out there, and there’s one relief job wide open. At the right price for the right piece, another reliever might make sense.
Associated Press photo
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