Boland: Bullpen in much better shape than in June 2009

TORONTO

The Yankees, unquestionably, have to get a reliever before the trade deadline. Two months into the season, the performance of the bullpen necessitates it. Roles are undefined, some pitchers are underperforming and there's a wobbly bridge to Mariano Rivera.

What's interesting about those frequently heard refrains, at their noisiest after Saturday's bullpen meltdown against the Indians - with Joba Chamberlain looming largest in the crosshairs - are that they're almost identical to what was being said two months into last season.

You remember 2009 - a championship year largely because of a bullpen that morphed from abysmal to exceptional.

So as fans and others panic, or at the very least hand-wring, about the inconsistency of the relief corps thus far, the Yankees are not.

"To me, bullpens emerge as the season goes on," manager Joe Girardi said earlier this week.

Girardi said bullpen struggles are an inevitable part of a 162-game season, as inevitable as a losing streak or hitters going through slumps.

"This is my fourth year as a manager and I haven't been through a year where they haven't ," Girardi said of the relievers.

General manager Brian Cashman was more blunt. "If there's a perception that there's a problem with the bullpen, I think that perception is inaccurate," he said Wednesday from his office.

That wasn't the case in 2009.

"Last year we had major problems in the bullpen," Cashman said.

Brian Bruney was the primary setup man but had two stints on the disabled list and was erratic when he wasn't. Also among the pitchers Girardi counted on to get crucial outs early last season were Brett Tomko, Jonathan Albaladejo, Jose Veras and Edwar Ramirez.

Pitching coach Dave Eiland said "absolutely, no doubt about it" that the bullpen questions two months into 2009 were far more pronounced than they are this season.

"We never had questions in our mind this year like we had last year," Eiland said.

Cashman said the serious bullpen problems come when "you have pieces that have not declared themselves with a history of success," which was the case early last season.

Early in 2009, Alfredo Aceves and David Robertson still were unproven and the biggest move that stabilized the bullpen - Phil Hughes settling in and dominating in the eighth-inning role - still was more than a month away.

Hughes' first relief appearance didn't come until June 8, and he didn't supplant Bruney as Rivera's setup man until July 3.

"I think we have the pitchers in every spot that have proven themselves already in New York or elsewhere," Cashman said. "We have a structured bullpen rather than last year, at this same time, we didn't."

There is no doubt that Aceves' back injury is a significant setback. It increases the pressure on Sergio Mitre and is the reason the Yankees re-signed Chad Gaudin, hoping to catch lightning in a bottle two straight years.

Chan Ho Park has shown signs, albeit in a small sample size of two games, of getting better. Robertson, who started slowly, has brought his ERA from a high of 14.21 May 5 to 7.31. Chamberlain hasn't been Hughes of 2009 - or even Joba of 2007 - with a 5.32 ERA, but he has held the opposition scoreless in 18 of 24 appearances. In four of those 24 outings, he allowed 13 runs in three innings; in the other 20, he gave up two runs in 202/3 innings. Damaso Marte allowed one run in 51/3 innings in May.

"Guys are going to struggle, that's the bottom line," Girardi said. "The guys are going to go through it and you have to find a way to get through it."

The bullpen went 3-3 with a 4.94 ERA in May after going 3-3 with a 3.93 ERA in April. Not a great two months, to be sure, but that might not be any more indicative of future performance than April and May of last year were.