John Schreiber may not have been the splashy answer the Yankees were chasing at the trade deadline, but he has quickly become one of the most useful pieces in the bullpen.
New York came away with Luis Garcia Jr. and Heliot Ramos ahead of the deadline, yet the biggest concern on the roster - relief help - went unaddressed in the big trade market. Brian Cashman’s front office later tried to patch things together through waivers, and Schreiber has helped soften that miss.
The veteran right-hander owns a 3.20 ERA in 56.1 innings this season, and that number has been trimmed down by the fact that Aaron Boone has not seen him allow a run in any outing since he arrived in pinstripes. Before the Royals let him go, most likely for financial reasons, Schreiber was sitting at a 3.65 ERA. His seven scoreless innings with the Yankees have pushed him back into the range he has lived in for much of his career.
The other part of Schreiber’s value is that he can do more than just get one or two outs. He has lost some strikeout punch compared with earlier in his career, but he can still cover important innings when the bullpen needs it. In three of his six appearances, he has gone 1.1 innings, and that kind of flexibility has mattered with Paul Blackburn and Brent Headrick carrying a heavy load through a year-long run of tight games.
His latest example came Monday night in the first game against the Minnesota Twins. In the bottom of the eighth, Tim Hill surrendered a homer to Josh Bell, Emmanuel Rodriguez reached on an error, and Victor Caratini got on after being hit by a pitch. Schreiber then came in needing four outs for Boone and immediately stopped the threat from growing.
The ninth got messy, too. Luke Keaschell drew a walk, Schreiber forced a double play, and then the inning turned uneasy again after another walk and another error. Even so, he worked through the traffic and kept David Bednar from having to enter the game.
Double play ends it! Yankees begin to exchange hugs and high fives as the celebration is about to get underway pic.twitter.com/GfyLi7tLdL
Schreiber’s run in New York has been strong, but it isn’t hard to see why. He has long been a steady reliever, and his 3.20 ERA is only a touch better than his career 3.57 mark across Detroit, Boston, and Kansas City.
In the end, Schreiber looks like exactly the sort of arm the Yankees should have been trying to land all along. There was plenty of chatter about a blockbuster Mason Miller deal, but the real need was simpler: a handful of veteran relievers Boone could trust in higher-leverage spots so he wouldn’t have to keep leaning on Hendrick and Blackburn. Schreiber has filled that role, and the Yankees are benefiting from the Royals’ decision to move on and save a little money.
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