How Yankees bullpen’s success changes trade deadline needs

Since their season began in San Francisco on March 25 — and really, even before that — it has been expected that the Yankees would need to address the bullpen at the trade deadline.

Suddenly, that date is less than two weeks away, and somehow the Yankees woke up Tuesday — when their game against the Pirates was postponed by the threat of storms — with the second-lowest bullpen ERA in the majors.

It has not always felt or looked that way, and the 3.09 ERA (mere decimal points better than that of the surging Red Sox) is not going to convince them they should not actually add relief reinforcements.

But at least with whatever Brian Cashman is able to land by the Aug. 3 deadline — whether it is as splashy as Padres star closer Mason Miller or more like the array of relievers he has acquired the past few deadlines — the Yankees have gotten enough internally to provide a solid baseline.

David Bednar, one of three relievers Cashman added last deadline (the other two have certainly not been part of the solution), has thrown 17 straight scoreless appearances (spanning 20 ²/₃ innings), five of which have lasted more than three outs.

Lefty Brent Headrick has emerged as one of the best relievers in the game, sitting top 10 in both ERA (1.43) and fWAR (1.4), not allowing a run in 42 of his 50 appearances (both major league highs).

Fernando Cruz has been best as a fireman, entering jams and escaping them by stranding 31 of his 36 inherited runners this season. Paul Blackburn has worked his way up the pecking order into high-leverage spots, posting a 2.08 ERA in his transition to full-time reliever. Tim Hill, despite some hiccups lately, has still been tough on lefties.

And recently, albeit in a small sample size, even Angel Chivilli has looked like an arm worth seeing more of to find out if he can be a legitimate option in bigger spots.

All of them have contributed to the Yankees bullpen posting a major league best 2.32 ERA over its past 40 games dating back to June 3, a stretch in which it has held opponents to a .188 batting average.

“It’s a really tight-knit group down there and everybody’s pulling for everybody,” Bednar said recently. “Just going out there and doing the job, it’s a lot of fun to watch.”

Again, the positive results of late do not mean that the Yankees do not need to add another trustworthy, high-leverage arm or two at the deadline. They could use more strikeouts and velocity, as the current group’s 22.5 percent strikeout rate only ranked 16th in the majors, while their average fastball velocity of 93.8 mph ranked 26th, according to Statcast.

And they still have a problem in the two relievers that came in with Bednar last summer — Camilo Doval and Jake Bird, the latter now back at Triple-A and the former also potentially looking at being squeezed out of the picture because of his inability to deliver in big spots if the Yankees can add enough in the next two weeks.

But the group of arms that has pitched well, while still containing some question marks, means the Yankees do not need to overhaul their bullpen like they did (or tried to) last summer.

Bednar has been at the center of the bullpen’s turnaround after a rocky start to the season, which prompted early questions about whether the Yankees might have a closer problem, too. After pitching in the WBC this spring, Bednar had a 5.14 ERA through his first 21 appearances. But he has not been scored upon since then, holding batters to a .103 average and .282 OPS with 22 strikeouts and four walks during his scoreless streak.

“He’s been pretty dominant and has his stuff in a really good place,” manager Aaron Boone said. “But then he’s the kind of guy you want helping lead your bullpen culture.

“Obviously he’s a really good pitcher, but really good competitor, really good person and teammate. There’s no ego involved with it. It’s like, ‘Whatever we got to do to win a game.’ We have a number of those guys that are like that down there and Bed’s one of the leaders. I love his makeup. I love what he brings and the example he sets. He just wants to win, and that’s apparent.”