Yankees' Chasen Shreve reacts to talk Zach Britton arrival seals his fate

by Felix Pantaleón

Lefty reliever Chasen Shreve might lose his spot on the Yankees’ roster on Thursday, July 26, 2018 (7/26/18) when two-time All-Star closer Zach Britton shows up after being acquired in a trade with the Baltimore Orioles on Tuesday night.

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ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Yankees reliever Chasen Shreve knows what a lot of people are assuming.

He gets it.

The Yankees added a better second lefty to their best-in-baseball bullpen on Tuesday night when trading for Zach Britton, so the natural assumption is that Shreve will be out of a job come Thursday when the two-time All-Star acquired from the Baltimore Orioles reports to his new club.

Makes sense, right?

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Shreve not only isn’t worried, he’s actually optimistic that Britton’s arrival will lead to the Yankees dumping someone else.

“We’ve had more than two lefties in the ‘pen before,” Shreve said following the Yankees’ 3-2 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays on Wednesday. “I think in ’15 we had five at one point, so it’s not unlikely for anyone to carry more than two lefties.”

If Shreve stays, the only other logical candidate to lose their roster spot baring an injury would be long reliever A.J. Cole, who has much better numbers.

After pitching a 1-2-3 eighth with two strikeouts on Wednesday, Cole has an 0.83 ERA with 28 punchouts in 21 2/3 innings over 13 games since he was told by the Washington Nationals to the Yankees on April 24.

Shreve’s stats aren’t impressive, as he has a 4.25 ERA this year working 36 innings in 38 games. Like 2015 when he pitched to a 5.18 ERA in 37 appearances, his biggest problems this year have been issuing too many walks (17) and allowing too many homers (8).

What has Shreve hopeful that he’ll stick around is a recent change to his mechanics and pitch selection has led to a long and brutal slump turning into a hot streak.

Shreve was 0-2 with a 7.82 ERA in 15 games from May 23 to July 7, a stretch in which he allowed 11 runs and 16 hits over 12 2/3 innings, but since he’s pitched 4 1/3 scoreless innings with six strikeouts over his last four outings.

“Shreve went through a bad streak, but he’s pitched pretty well for us overall,” pitching coach Larry Rothschild said. “And he got some big outs last time out in a game we needed three outs in the ninth.”

Shreve’s July surge was highlighted by a game-saving outing last Saturday against the Mets when he replaced Aroldis Chapman with the bases loaded, nobody out and the Yankees up two runs. Two batters later, the Yankees were celebrating a 7-6 win thanks to Shreve saving the day.

“I just made some adjustments with my mechanics,” Shreve said. “Nothing crazy. Just tweaking some things. Tweaked how I use my pitches. Not being so splitter happy and being unpredictable is my biggest thing right now.”