While the Andrew Brackman call-up story has been all over the map, it was confirmed on Thursday that Brackman has indeed been activated. We still have no idea if Brackman will throw his first major league pitch this year (Thursday would have been an ideal time). If he does, and he’s a success, could we see Brackman on the postseason roster?
The pitching roster for the playoffs is far from set and the possibilities are being debated all over the place and I’m sure within the Yankees organization. If Brackman gets some garbage time innings in and dominates, I could see him replacing whoever is currently penciled in for the last spot on the roster. While it sounds crazy, Brackman has upside that Moseley, Vazquez, Gaudin and Mitre just don’t have. If he comes in and dominates for 5-10 innings over the next 10 days, why not?
This idea all stems from how valuable Francisco Rodriguez was for the Angels in 2002. He wasn’t called up until September and didn’t throw his first major league pitch until September 18th. He was 20 years old with 317.2 minor league innings, Brackman is 24 with 247.1 innings, so it’s not like Rodriguez had a huge advantage in experience, especially considering Brackman went to college. K-Rod established himself quickly and despite just 5.2 major league innings, there was no way the Angels could leave him off their playoff roster. They were rewarded when Rodriguez’ domination continued into the playoffs and helped the Angels to the title. I don’t think Brackman has it in him to dominate like K-Rod did, but he could also pitch 5 or 6 innings if needed in an extra inning or a bad AJ kind of game. He could truly be a wild card.
I will say that I don’t expect this to happen, but I would love for Brackman to get his feet wet in the majors and pitch well enough for him to even be in the discussion. While the last spot on a playoff bullpen may not matter much, if he pitches well enough to get real innings in, he could be extremely valuable. The value of relievers is greatly overrated in the regular season, but dominating performances out of the pen can go a long way in a tight postseason series. We’ve seen enough of Mariano Rivera over the past decade and half to know how valuable a shutdown reliever can be, but he hasn’t been alone. He’s the only one who has done it consistently, but there’s no way the Angels win in 2002 without Rodriguez, or the Sox in 2004 without Foulke, or the Cardinals in 2006 without Wainwright all dominating out of the pen. What do you think, if Brackman pitches and dominates over the next 10 days, would you want to see him on the mound in October?
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