The Yankees don't get a ton of mileage out of their starting pitchers, which places an unusually heavy toll on their bullpen. To compensate, they've started to rely more heavily on their Minor League system.
"Because of some of our concerns about the length we get, we kind of rotate people in and out here a lot," Girardi said. "And it doesn't mean we don't believe in them. We're doing it to kind of protect the arms of everyone."
They've done so at a historic pace. The Yankees have used 20 different pitchers in June alone, a club record for a month when excluding September and its expanded rosters.