Even with Aroldis Chapman and Andrew Miller gone for more than a month and a half now, the Yankees’ bullpen still has a chance to set a strikeout record.
Going into the weekend, Yankees relievers as a group were averaging 10.41 strikeouts per nine innings. If that holds, it will break the major league mark established by the 2014 Yankees pen of 10.25 and nearly eclipsed by the 2015 Yankees average of 10.1. Those are the top three marks in history.
The fourth best is a threat to take the Yankees out of holding the top three spots exclusively. The 2016 Astros pen was averaging 10.08 strikeouts per nine innings.
Amazin’ number of debuts
Before rosters could expand on Sept. 1, the Rangers (56) and Braves (55) ranked 1-2 in most players who appeared in even one game in 2016 who were originally signed by that organization.
No surprise, those teams have been near the top of this category recently (the Braves finished first last year, the Rangers were tied for second with the Yankees).
The team that ranked third at 54, though, is a bit surprising — the Mets, who were 10th at the end of last season.
This reflects players from Sandy Alderson’s tenure (beginning in 2011) starting to mix with the remnants from Omar Minaya’s regime. The Mets had 11 originally signed players make their debuts this year before Sept. 1, tied for second most in the majors. Of those just Luis Cessa and Gabriel Ynoa are holdovers from Minaya.
One reason for the rise in original Mets making their debuts involves pitchers traded last July for Yoenis Cespedes (Cessa, Michael Fulmer) and Kelly Johnson/Juan Uribe (John Gant, Robert Whalen). The other original Mets to debut this year before Sept. 1 were Matt Bowman, Robert Gsellman, Seth Lugo, Brandon Nimmo, T.J. Rivera and Matt Reynolds, who replaced the injured Ruben Tejada on last year’s postseason roster, but never appeared in a game.