Why the New York Yankees should have let Dellin Betances be the closer
Aug 15, 2016; Bronx, NY, USA; New York Yankees relief pitcher Dellin Betances (68) celebrates with catcher Gary Sanchez (24) after defeating the Toronto Blue Jays at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Adam Hunger-USA TODAY Sports

The offseason is upon us and the New York Yankees have signed Aroldis Chapman to a historic deal, but why didn’t they just leave it to Dellin Betances?

New York Yankees general manager Brian Cashman made it evident to the world  from the start that his key focus this offseason was acquiring a back-end bullpen arm.

It seemed as if it were perfect timing with both Kenley Jansen and Aroldis Chapman on the free agent market. The club ultimately settled with Chapman for a five-year, $86 million deal, but was this a move they had to make?

With the Yankees in rebuild mode, this type of deal should not be what they are looking to get into at the moment. They are not looking to compete for a good two/three years and by then, Chapman will be in the later part of his deal.

There is also one key reason why they should not have signed the Cuban flamethrower and it’s because they have a freakish athlete named Dellin Betances.

The 6’8″ all-star has been a staple in the New York Yankees bullpen ever since his brilliant 2014 rookie season. He has spent most of his tenure with the club either in the role of the setup man or pitching in the seventh inning.

Since then, batters own a .166 batting average against Betances as he’s most of his tenure with the club either in the role of the setup man or pitching in the seventh inning.

Once the Yankees determined to trade away Aroldis Chapman and Andrew Miller, Betances became the new closer of the team and for the most part, he was lights out. Sure, he was atrocious in the month of September but that was most likely due to fatigue and nothing more severe.

It is not like we haven’t seen the right-hander successful in this ninth inning role as well. The day he became the new full-time closer of the team he got himself out of a very tough predicament against the Mets at Citi field where he looked like he couldn’t be rattled.

The New York-native has proved himself to be one of baseball’s elite relievers within the past few years and it is ridiculous that the Yankees feel they cannot trust him in this role. In his three full years with the team, Betances has sported a 1.93 ERA with 22 saves and a 14.3 K/9.

If you do still another reason to be convinced why the Yankees should let Betances keep his role, then all you have to do is look at the guy. He was made for this sort of role, what is more feared in today’s game than a six-foot-eight behemoth walking out of the bullpen and coming in to hold you scoreless?

His fastball has touched as high as 100 m.p.h and his curveball is one of the nastiest pitches in the entire league — one that induces groundballs at a spectacular rate of 49.1% which is one of the best among American League relievers.

Unlike Chapman, Betances does not rely solely on his velocity and as he ages, he could fair better than the Cuban due to his use of the curveball.

The Yankees just should have just settled down a bit and not make any hasty decisions before realizing what they already have on their roster, a monster named Dellin Betances who looks like he was born for the closer role.


My name is Patrick Hennessy and I am an Editor as well as the Lead Trending Writer here at ESNY. I mainly cover the New York Yankees, but I also reach out to many branches of the sports world. I have had the opportunity to broadcast my work on many different platforms and I plan on continue doing so.