Boone: Yankees to get ‘creative’ with closer role
ARLINGTON, Texas — Clay Holmes won’t be the automatic choice as the closer for the New York Yankees in the short term after giving up a game-ending grand slam to the Texas Rangers for his major-league-high 11th blown save this season.
Manager Aaron Boone said Wednesday the club will consider several options, Holmes included, while continuing to support the two-time All-Star coming off a rough outing.
Rookie Wyatt Langford‘s grand slam followed a single by Carson Kelly and consecutive walks to Josh Smith and Marcus Semien, giving the Rangers a 7-4 victory on Tuesday night.
“In the short term, we’ll kind of just get a little creative with it,” Boone said before the series finale against the Rangers. “I feel like he’s throwing the ball really well in a lot of ways. Last night it was certainly a little off and they got to him. But the reality is he’s really not that far off from being the dominant guy we know he can be.”
Langford fouled off a full-count slider to stay alive before hitting a hanging 85.8 mph slider 407 down the left-field line.
Holmes’ blown saves — which have come in 40 chances — are the most since Dave Righetti had 13 in 1987, tying the Yankees record set by Goose Gossage in 1983.
Boone stuck with Holmes after the right-hander’s previous blown save Aug. 18 against Detroit in Major League Baseball’s Little League Classic. Holmes had five scoreless outings with three saves before the loss to the Rangers.
The closer-by-committee decision from Boone came with the Yankees in a tight race with Baltimore for the best record in the American League and the AL East lead. The Orioles were a half-game ahead to start the day.
Right-hander Jake Cousins has a save and a 2.73 ERA with 45 strikeouts in 30 innings. Luke Weaver, another right-hander, is second to Holmes in appearances with 54 and has finished seven games. Left-hander Tim Hill is 3-0 with a 2.34 ERA in 27 relief outings but has just 13 strikeouts in 34⅔ innings.
Rookie Luis Gil and Clarke Schmidt, both coming off the IL, could be developed into closing options.
“Trust a lot of guys,” Boone said. “Just how it matches up is kind of how we’ll go. And that’s how we’ll go into every night. I feel like there’s a lot of guys down there throwing the ball well and capable.”
Holmes spent time in Boone’s office before the game.
“Just kind of checking in and making sure, kind of giving him my thoughts on certainly the short-term look at things,” Boone said. “But also just making sure he’s good and seeing where he’s at. The thing about Clay is, he’s such a solid person and has such a good foundation. It’s why I think he handles this role so well, the ups and downs that inevitably go with it, the pressures that go with it.”
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Greg Wyshynski
Deputy commissioner Bill Daly said the NHL is warning teams against taking warmups without helmets, a growing trend this season that violates NHL rules.
Daly told ESPN that the league is sending out a memo to remind teams that helmets are mandatory in warmups for “all players who entered the NHL beginning with the 2019-2020 season or later,” per Rule 9.6.
The Ottawa Senators skated out for warmups without helmets in a game at the Vegas Golden Knights last Wednesday, having lost in their past six trips to T-Mobile Arena. Forward Shane Pinto told TSN that the players decided at a team dinner to change their Vegas luck by doffing their helmets. “It was pretty cool to do,” he said.
The Senators won the game 4-3 in a shootout.
The San Jose Sharks also went without helmets in warmups in Vegas, having lost five straight road games to the Knights. Alas, their luck didn’t change, losing 4-3 to their division rival. Forward Will Smith said there was no particular motivation for it.
“It was a team decision. It was Saturday night in Vegas, so I think all the guys were pretty easy to [do] it,” he said.
On Tuesday night, the New Jersey Devils skated out wearing hats instead of helmets, in honor of defenseman Brenden Dillon‘s 1,000th NHL game.
Rule 9.6 reads:
“It is mandatory for all players who entered the NHL beginning with the 2019-2020 season or later to wear their helmet during pre-game warm-up. To be clear, all players who entered the League prior to the 2019-2020 season and who are currently playing are exempt from this mandate.”
The NHL amended its rules in 2022 to mandate helmet usage in warmups out of player safety concerns, in particular with rookies who took the ice without helmets before their debut games as part of a longstanding NHL tradition. Much like the league’s visor rule, some veteran players were “grandfathered” in and exempt.
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