In honor of Rafael Soriano’s official unveiling as the Yankees’ 2011 “eighth inning guy”, listed below are the most dominant seasons by a Yankees’ reliever with fewer than 20 games finished.
Top-20 Seasons by a Yankees’ Set-Up Man, by WAR
| Player | WAR | Year | G | GF | W | L | SV | IP | SO | ERA | ERA+ | OPS+ |
| Mariano Rivera | 5.4 | 1996 | 61 | 14 | 8 | 3 | 5 | 107.2 | 130 | 2.09 | 240 | 24 |
| Tom Gordon | 4 | 2004 | 80 | 15 | 9 | 4 | 4 | 89.2 | 96 | 2.21 | 204 | 36 |
| Mike Stanton | 2.7 | 2001 | 76 | 16 | 9 | 4 | 0 | 80.1 | 78 | 2.58 | 175 | 83 |
| Mike Stanton | 2.7 | 1997 | 64 | 15 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 66.2 | 70 | 2.56 | 176 | 52 |
| Tom Gordon | 2.5 | 2005 | 79 | 17 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 80.2 | 69 | 2.57 | 166 | 61 |
| John Habyan | 2.5 | 1991 | 66 | 16 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 90 | 70 | 2.3 | 181 | 63 |
| Scott Proctor | 2.1 | 2006 | 83 | 12 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 102.1 | 89 | 3.52 | 129 | 71 |
| Jeff Nelson | 2 | 2000 | 73 | 13 | 8 | 4 | 0 | 69.2 | 71 | 2.45 | 197 | 46 |
| L. McDaniel | 1.9 | 1968 | 24 | 19 | 4 | 1 | 10 | 51.1 | 43 | 1.75 | 165 | 63 |
| Bob Wickman | 1.7 | 1994 | 53 | 19 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 70 | 56 | 3.09 | 150 | 55 |
| Kerry Wood | 1.6 | 2010 | 24 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 26 | 31 | 0.69 | 625 | 39 |
| C. Hammond | 1.5 | 2003 | 62 | 16 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 63 | 45 | 2.86 | 155 | 86 |
| Steve Howe | 1.5 | 1991 | 37 | 10 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 48.1 | 34 | 1.68 | 249 | 51 |
| B. Boehringer | 1.4 | 1997 | 34 | 11 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 48 | 53 | 2.62 | 172 | 80 |
| R. Monteleone | 1.4 | 1992 | 47 | 15 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 92.2 | 62 | 3.3 | 120 | 80 |
| J. Chamberlain | 1.2 | 2007 | 19 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 24 | 34 | 0.38 | 1221 | 15 |
| R. Mendoza | 1.2 | 2002 | 62 | 14 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 91.2 | 61 | 3.44 | 129 | 86 |
| Allen Watson | 1.1 | 1999 | 21 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 34.1 | 30 | 2.1 | 227 | 61 |
| D. Robertson | 1 | 2010 | 64 | 10 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 61.1 | 71 | 3.82 | 112 | 92 |
Note: Excludes relievers with games started greater than 0 and games finished greater than 20.
Source: Baseball-reference.com
Assuming Mariano Rivera remains healthy, Soriano will have the chance to gun for the immortal closer’s 5.4 WAR, which was compiled asJohn Wetteland‘s set-up man in 1996. At the very least, he’ll be expected to make up for the loss of Kerry Wood, whose contribution was pretty incredible in only 26 innings. Along with Rivera, Soriano will join two other relievers on this list: David Robertson and Joba Chamberlain. If all three right handers can pitch to top form, the Yankees bullpen could feature the best quartet in recent memory, not to mention one of the better one-two punches in franchise history.
For a look at some of the best reliever tandems in Yankees’ history, check out an earlier Captain’s Blog post chronicling the unique 1981 season of Ron Davis.
“I think 29 clubs would love to have Rafael Soriano thrown down their throats,” Cashman said.
That was an odd quote by cashman…