When the Yankees start the playoffs next month, they may not have a true closer, and, at least for now, Aaron Boone seems content with that.
Last week, Clay Holmes' 11th save was a blow to Boone, who was “creative” with his pitching plans late in games, but Luke Weaver earned his first save. Holmes pitched the eighth inning.
No pitcher has yet captured that spot with 17 games remaining, but Boone said he's “comfortable” with the Yankees' late-season shift continuing into the postseason.
“If we end up settling on a guy who closes games all the time or most of the time, that's fine,” Boone said before the Yankees' 5-0 loss to the Royals in the Bronx on Tuesday. “I'm going to let it evolve.”
If that happens, it would be a stark contrast to a Yankees team that relied on Mariano Rivera to win the World Series and, more recently, was plagued by Aroldis Chapman's inconsistency in October.
The closer will lose his job for the season.
That happened briefly to Edwin Diaz in Queens this year.
But if the Mets make the postseason, he'll likely pitch the ninth inning.
That doesn't mean Boone's strategy won't work.
Then-rookie Adam Wainwright saved four games in the 2006 World Series for the Cardinals.
Rangers' Jose Leclerc recorded just four saves in last year's regular season, but added four more on the way to the championship.
But the Yankees, and manager Boone, will miss having the stability to back up their bullpen through any phase of the season.
The easiest solution would be for Holmes to regain the form that led to a cameo appearance in the All-Star Game in July and a career-high 29 saves.
But Holmes has eight saves in his last 18 starts, missed five and seen his ERA rise to 4.24 from a 2.82 ERA in his first 39 games, putting the viability of that scenario in jeopardy.
Those back-to-back innings issues are what prompted the change in the first place, but as Boone acknowledged, it complicates communication about which innings a pitcher will pitch on a given day or in a given series.
“In a perfect world, that's probably how it would be,” Boone said of communication, “but that's not always the reality. The reality that I'm dealing with is I feel like we have a lot of really good pitchers, and my job, our job, is to put them in the best position to impact us and win games.”
“That's kind of the message. It might not be the most ideal message for everyone, but that's okay.”
Holmes said he's OK with arriving at the postseason not knowing for sure whether he'll be the closer, the setup man or have an entirely different role.
The final two weeks of the regular season have essentially been an audition for him, along with the rest of the Yankees relief pitchers, and that could continue into the playoffs.
“I think a lot of people out there have been trained to be prepared for anything,” Holmes told The Post, “and know that no matter what happens, you always have to be ready and you have to be the best version of yourself.”
