Yankees Manager Calls 2022 All-Star 'Our Closer' for the Season

New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone wasted no time naming his closer for the season. Pet the New York Post, Boone called Clay Holmes “our closer” following Tuesday’s spring training loss to the New York Mets. Boone’s comments suggest that Holmes is safely entrenched as the Yankees closer ahead of the upcoming season. Holmes can easily challenge his career-best 24 saves he accumulated last season.

“We need him to be great for us to be what we expect to be as a team,” Boone said. “That’s our expectation for him. He knows that. He’s one of the real dynamic relievers in the game, especially when he really gets it rolling, as we’ve seen over the last few years.”

Clay Holmes Locked in as Yankees Closer

Holmes began last season in a diverse high-leverage role. He did so by mixing in closing duties with work in the seventh and eighth innings. But, all of two of his 28 outings following the All-Star break came in the ninth or later. Since joining the Yankees in trade from the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2021, Holmes has been as far as the American League Championship Series. He has been fantastic in his two-plus years in the Big Apple, saving 44 games with a 2.50 ERA.

Last year, Holmes was part of a solid bullpen that included Michael King and Wandy Peralta, but both players are now with the San Diego Padres. Holmes is confident that the bullpen, which still has Jonathan Loáisiga and Tommy Kahnle from a group that led the league with a 3.34 ERA, will be an advantage in 2024.

“If we keep putting guys in good spots and guys trust their stuff, there’s no reason why we can’t repeat what we did last year,” Holmes said.

No Extension Talks Yet

The right-hander and the club have yet to talk about an extension. Holmes is slated to become a free agent at the end of this year. He’s thrown 126 2/3 innings as a Yankke, allowing 2.70 earned runs per nine. He has struck out 26.1% batters faced and given out walks at an 8.2% clip. What’s most impressive is Holmes keeping 70.6% of balls in play on the ground. That’s the best grounder rate in the majors in pitchers with at least 120 innings pitched over the last two years.

Keeping that kind of production beyond 2024 is sure appealing. Holmes is close to the open market, the Yankees would likely have to pay something close to free agent prices in order to re-sign him. If they can’t, then the club can find the next Holmes another way. He didn’t have a huge track record at the time the Yankees acquried him, posting a 5.57 ERA when New York sent Hoy Park and Diego Castillo to the Pirares to get Holmes.

The Yankees threshold next year will be $241 million. The club will look to replace impending free agents like Juan Soto and Alex Verdugo in their outfield mix. Maybe they would prefer to pursue those players instead of spending on their bullpen ahead of time.