Our weekly look at one item tying together each of Boston's AL East opponents looks at the Yankees. Which relatively unknown player could make a name for himself in New York in 2011?
The Yankees had one of the better bullpens in the AL last year, and their biggest offseason acquisition may have been the best reliever on the market, Rafael Soriano.
Soriano and closer Mariano Rivera form a fantastic 1-2 punch at the end of the pen, but they don't mean much if the bridge is out. And with the starting rotation looking a bit ordinary, that bridge will need to be utilized often in 2011.
Joba Chamberlain pitched pretty well in the second half of the year, but one guy who could prove vital in getting the ball to Soriano and Rivera is David Robertson. Essentially a two-pitch pitcher with some sneakiness to his fastball, Robertson has struck out 170 men in 135 1/3 innings in his major league career.
Unfortunately, Robertson has also walked a good number of hitters. He had a 2.58 ERA over the last four months of 2010, and he could've been even better if he didn't walk 29 men in 45 1/3 innings over that span.
Unless Freddy Garcia and Ivan Nova (or Sergio Mitre or Bartolo Colon) exceeds expectations, New York manager Joe Girardi will be making some trips to the mound before he wants to. Having a third (or fourth, if you want to include Chamberlain) shut-down guy that he can turn to will make those visits easier to stomach. Robertson, just 25, could be one of the more important relievers in the division.
