The Yankees’ primary problem a year ago was a lack of offense, as they finished 25th in runs scored, but their bullpen was just average, finishing 16th in the majors in WAR, according to Fangraphs.
Since the end of last season, Wandy Peralta and Michael King are gone — both to San Diego — as are Albert Abreu (Japan), Keynan Middleton (St. Louis) and Greg Weissert (Boston).
But the philosophy that’s made the Yankees’ pen a strength in recent years should remain a constant, as they went out and traded for Victor Gonzalez and Caleb Ferguson, a pair of lefties, from the Dodgers.
Both Ferguson and Gonzalez have high ground-ball rates, something that the Yankees clearly value.
The pen led the majors with a ground-ball rate of 50.6 percent, according to Fangraphs and also had an MLB-best 49.1 ground-ball rate in 2022, when the group finished fifth in WAR, according to the site.
Gonzalez and Ferguson will join a pen that includes Clay Holmes and Ian Hamilton, who — along with Peralta — finished in the top 15 in ground-ball rates among relievers last season, a year in which the average bullpen had around a 43 percent ground-ball percentage.
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