TAMPA — Chad Green spent the first month of last season in the minors as a starter, waiting to see if he’d be needed at some point in the Yankees’ rotation.
He wasn’t.
Instead, Green came up in May to provide long relief — and by the end of the year had become an unexpectedly vital cog in the Yankees’ fearsome bullpen.
Despite that success — and the presence of five starters in the rotation already, with more on the way — Green spent the offseason preparing to be a starter again. But he also was aware of the likelihood he will be back in the pen.