By Patrick Gunn
January 30, 2024
***
The Yankees need bullpen help. Pitching depth appears to be the last major need the Bombers have to fix ahead of the 2024 season. Of course, they could add another starter, but all signs point to NYC being content with the current five. So, that leaves the bullpen, and a familiar face is garnering attention from the Bomber’s crosstown rivals.
Wandy Peralta has ended a fantastic three-year stretch in Pinstripes, the best seasons of his career. And the Yankees have shown interest in bringing him back. But, does it make sense for a reunion? Here’s the case for and against.
PRO:
Keeping a player well-liked in the locker room
He’s had a 2.82 ERA in three seasons with the Yankees, one of the most stable players the Yankees have had in that stretch
Peralta has fit any role the Yankees have asked of him: sometimes ending games, but constantly putting out fires
His changeup is still nasty - per Statcast data, batters have a .387 xSLG against the pitch along with a wOBA .301 and a 36.8 Whiff%
Still has a high groundball rate (57.1 GB%) and soft contact rate (80th percentile in hard-hit rate)
CON:
He’s always overachieved as a Yankee, with a xERA over four in two of the last three seasons. Maybe that suggests the Yankees system helps him, but it could also suggest he could be in for a down year heading into his age 32-33 season.
His walk rate took a massive jump this season from 7.6% in 2022 to 13.2% last year. Given that he’s a low-strikeout pitcher (last season’s 22.5% was a career-high for him), taking that big of a jump in his mid-30s is striking.
His BABIP last year was .218, a career-low. Hard to repeat that type of number even for a soft-contact pitcher.
VERDICT:
The Yankees should probably resign Peralta for depth and vibes. There are certainly concerns and I do not think the Bombers should give him a long-term deal by any means, but Peralta on a one-year deal maybe with incentives would be a solid enough signing. Also, maybe he’s overachieving as a Yankee because Matt Blake and company’s system works for Peralta? Either way, Peralta has enough pedigree in New York to warrant a low-risk, one year deal that leaves room for another signing or two.
CASE CLOSED
Peralta will be joining a big old bunch of other former Yankee pitchers in San Diego
I suspect he will get a better deal somewhere else....
i think a one year deal or a deal with incentives for a second year would be very reasonable. my guess, however, is that if a deal like that was going to work it would already be done. seems pretty clear that Wandy and his people believe that Wandy is more than the yankees are willing to offer, so he is probably going to hear every offer from every other team and if he returns to the yankees it will be very late in the process. I would not be surprised at all if Wandy is unsigned when spring training begins. best guess is he signs with someone, maybe the yankees, within a couple of days in either directio…
I like a one-year deal for Peralta. He's not perfect, but he does the job well and is comfortable in New York.
the Yankees might need another relief pitcher
they might not.
my view is that the pen people should be employed as two distinct and alternating groups of three
and an additional long reliever or two.
the Yankees have no shortage of candidates and have at least 5 excellent ones.
of greater concern is adding one more starter of quality sufficient to serve as the second or third rotation piece.
I like Corbin Burnes
but believe that Snell would suffice.
best might be one of Boras' "pillow deals" for Snell
followed,after the 2024 season, by a free agent acquisition of Burnes