Aaron Boone just gave Yankees fans a scare with this answer from Clay Holmes

Clay Holmes, former New York Yankees goalkeeper, made a save. That’s what he’s doing these days. He makes saves in the final stages – 11 saves this season, to be exact. He fails to make saves when used in innings other than the ninth – two of them already, in 2.5 weeks without a leadoff hitter. He was an excellent closer in 2022 and 2023, a good but lucky closer in the early months of 2024, and is currently not a closer.

Still, the Yankees found themselves in a bind with the timing of his demotion, sending him back to the lab without enough time on the clock before October to fully shake off the mental effects of his previous struggles and about a month late for outside help to be a factor in his de-emphasis. Luke Weaver, Ian Hamilton and Tommy Kahnle have been remarkably helpful so far. You’re not Tanner Scott or AJ Puk either.

An outside alternative (no, not Mark Leiter Jr.) would have been great in this case. Unfortunately, the Yankees no longer have the option to import one. When Aaron Boone was asked about Holmes in the postseason on Talkin’ Yanks this week, it wasn’t a big surprise when he said he plans to use him in tough situations going forward. After all, he’s only had difficult situations since his demotion and usually struggled to find his rhythm when the curtain was lifted.

Should have seen this coming, but still…hard to hear.

The Yankees plan to use Clay Holmes in close games in the MLB playoffs because they have to

Can you at least do us a favor and avoid the one-run games? And keep the hook quick, like you did Sunday in Oakland (when Weaver really helped everyone again).

To be fair to the Yankees, they have gotten just as “creative” with the closer role as they promised on the day of Holmes’ demotion. Weaver has emerged as the de facto top option, but Nestor Cortes Jr. also shined with a long save in Chicago, and Tommy Kahnle and Jake Cousins ​​​​also got their chances.

Unfortunately, that creativity didn’t work out so well at the deadline, when the Yankees hoped to get lucky with Leiter Jr.’s swing-and-miss but refused to pay higher prices for proven players like Scott and Jason Adam. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the misbehavior doesn’t ultimately lead to Holmes getting back to where he started with a winner-take-all win this fall.