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When Was The Last Time The Yanks Had 2 Effective Lefties In their Pen?

Posted by Steve Lombardi on March 21, 2008

To answer the above question, I used Baseball-Reference.com's Play Index and I set the controls for:

Yankees, LHP seasons, 1957 to 2007
where Inherited Runners % =<.5 and
WHIP<=1.3 and
at least 80% games came in relief, and
at least 45 Innings Pitched.

and, this is the result of that query:

1959 Bobby Shantz
1960 Bobby Shantz
1961 Luis Arroyo
1962 Bud Daley
1963 Steve Hamilton
1965 Steve Hamilton
1966 Steve Hamilton
1967 Steve Hamilton
1968 Steve Hamilton
1969 Steve Hamilton
1970 Steve Hamilton
1972 Sparky Lyle
1973 Sparky Lyle
1974 Sparky Lyle
1976 Sparky Lyle & Grant Jackson
1977 Sparky Lyle
1981 Dave LaRoche
1982 Rudy May & Dave LaRoche
1984 Dave Righetti
1985 Bob Shirley
1986 Dave Righetti
1989 Lee Guetterman
1990 Lee Guetterman
1991 Steve Howe
1997 Mike Stanton
1998 Mike Stanton
2001 Randy Choate
2002 Mike Stanton
2003 Chris Hammond

Based on this, it's not a reach to say that, since 1957, the Yankees have only had two seasons, 1976 and 1982, where they had two effective left-handed relief pitchers in their pen.

That's an amazing stat - just twice since 1957. Or, so I thought...

...until I looked at the same sort for all big league teams, and this is what I found, in terms of teams with two or more effective lefties in the same season:

2006	NL	N.Y. Mets	                  Wagner / Feliciano / Oliver	 
2003	AL	Tx. Rangers	         Shouse / Mahay / Erasmo Ramirez	 
1998	NL	Pittsburgh Pirates	         Christiansen / Rincon / Tabaka	 
1997	AL	Baltimore Orioles	         Orosco / Myers / Arthur Rhodes	 
1983	NL	New York Mets	         Orosco / C. Diaz / Tom Gorman	 
2007	AL	Seattle Mariners	         G. Sherrill / Eric O'Flaherty	 
2007	AL	Toronto Blue Jays	         Scott Downs / Brian Tallet	 
2005	NL	Philadelphia Phillies	Billy Wagner / Aaron Fultz	 
2004	NL	Philadelphia Phillies	Rheal Cormier / Billy Wagner	 
2004	NL	St. Louis Cardinals	Ray King / Steve Kline	         
2003	NL	Colorado Rockies	         Brian Fuentes / Javier Lopez	 
2002	NL	Atlanta Braves	         Mike Remlinger / Chris Hammond	 
2002	AL	Minnesota Twins	         J.C. Romero / Eddie Guardado	 
2002	NL	Montreal Expos	         Scott Stewart / Joey Eischen	 
2001	AL	Seattle Mariners	         Arthur Rhodes / Norm Charlton	 
2001	NL	St. Louis Cardinals	Steve Kline / Mike Matthews	 
2001	AL	Toronto Blue Jays	         Pedro Borbon / Dan Plesac	 
2000	NL	Colorado Rockies	         Mike Myers / Gabe White	         
1999	NL	Atlanta Braves	         John Rocker / Mike Remlinger	 
1998	NL	Houston Astros	         Billy Wagner / C.J. Nitkowski	 
1998	NL	New York Mets	         Dennis Cook / Brian Bohanon	 
1997	NL	Houston Astros	         Billy Wagner / Mike Magnante 
1993	AL	Milwaukee Brewers	         Jesse Orosco / Graeme Lloyd	 
1992	NL	Atlanta Braves	         Mike Stanton / Kent Mercker	 
1991	NL	Chicago Cubs	         Paul Assenmacher / C. McElroy	 
1991	AL	Chicago White Sox	         Scott Radinsky / Ken Patterson	 
1990	NL	Pittsburgh Pirates	         Bob Patterson / Bob Kipper	 
1989	AL	Milwaukee Brewers	         Dan Plesac / Tony Fossas	 
1989	NL	St. Louis Cardinals	Ken Dayley / Frank DiPino	 
1988	NL	Cincinnati Reds	         Rob Murphy / John Franco	 
1988	AL	Detroit Tigers	         Willie Hernandez / Paul Gibson	 
1988	AL	Milwaukee Brewers	         Dan Plesac / Paul Mirabella	 
1988	NL	San Diego Padres	         Mark Davis / Dave Leiper	 
1987	NL	Cincinnati Reds	         Rob Murphy / John Franco	 
1986	NL	Atlanta Braves	         Paul Assenmacher / Ed Olwine	 
1986	AL	Detroit Tigers	         W. Hernandez / Mark Thurmond	 
1986	NL	Montreal Expos	         Bob McClure / Dan Schatzeder	 
1984	NL	New York Mets	         Jesse Orosco / Tom Gorman	 
1983	NL	Philadelphia Phillies	Al Holland / Willie Hernandez	 
1982	NL	Los Angeles Dodgers	Steve Howe / Terry Forster	 
1982	AL	New York Yankees	         Rudy May / Dave LaRoche	         
1982	NL	San Francisco Giants	Gary Lavelle / Al Holland	 
1981	NL	San Francisco Giants	Al Holland / Gary Lavelle	 
1980	AL	California Angels	         Dave LaRoche / Andy Hassler	 
1978	AL	Kansas City Royals	         Al Hrabosky / Steve Mingori	 
1978	NL	Los Angeles Dodgers	Terry Forster / Lance Rautzhan	 
1977	AL	Kansas City Royals	         Larry Gura / Steve Mingori	 
1976	AL	Kansas City Royals	         Steve Mingori / Larry Gura	 
1976	AL	New York Yankees	         Sparky Lyle / Grant Jackson	 
1975	NL	Philadelphia Phillies	Tug McGraw / Tom Hilgendorf	 
1974	AL	Baltimore Orioles	         Grant Jackson / Don Hood	 
1973	NL	Los Angeles Dodgers	Jim Brewer / Pete Richert	 
1972	NL	Los Angeles Dodgers	Jim Brewer / Pete Richert	 
1971	AL	Oakland Athletics	         Darold Knowles / Jim Roland	 
1971	AL	Washington Senators	Joe Grzenda / Paul Lindblad	 
1970	AL	Detroit Tigers	         Fred Scherman / John Hiller	 
1968	AL	Boston Red Sox	         Sparky Lyle / Bill Landis	 
1967	AL	Washington Senators	Darold Knowles / Dick Lines	 
1966	NL	Cincinnati Reds	         Billy McCool / Ted Davidson	 
1966	NL	St. Louis Cardinals	Hal Woodeshick / Joe Hoerner	 
1965	NL	Milwaukee Braves	         Billy O'Dell / Dick Kelley	 
1965	NL	Los Angeles Dodgers	Ron Perranoski / Jim Brewer	 
1964	NL	Cincinnati Reds	         Billy McCool / Bill Henry

That's just 63 times since 1957 - in all of baseball. Just goes to show, it's hard enough to find one good lefty for your pen...and, if you have two, you've got something special.

3 Responses to “When Was The Last Time The Yanks Had 2 Effective Lefties In their Pen?”

  1. David in Toledo Says:

    Thanks! P-I doesn't go back to 1954 yet, but in that year the Indians had rookie Don Mossi (1.02 WHIP, 190 ERA+) and veteran 2-time MVP Hal Newhouser (7-2 record, 7 saves for 46 innings) in their bullpen.

  2. Jgeller Says:

    perhaps we can look at the Yankees in another light that proves your point that it's been a while since they've had strong lefties.
    since 2000, there have been 115 seasons with the above criteria, an average of 3.83 per team, and the Yankees, one of the perenial top teams, only has 3. since 2004, the numbers are 48 total and 0 Yankees.
    the Yankees might want to fix that soon, as since 2000, out of the 16 playoff teams, 11 had a lefty with this criteria.

  3. Johnny Twisto Says:

    In '04 and '05, I don't think they even had a lefty in their pen. Really upset me that the highest paid team in the league could be assembled with no lefty reliever. (*Checking, I remember Felix Heredia and Gabe White were around in '04, but they were horrendous.) Then the last couple years they had Mike Myers, who pitched decently, but I believe actually was better against righties. Sort of flukey, but it is what it was. Chris Hammond makes the list above, but he was actually more effective against righties. So the Yanks haven't had an effective lefty on lefty reliever since Stanton in '02, and I doubt Billy Traber will put an end to that.