The Yankees bullpen has been an area of uncertainty since the front office shipped out Aroldis Chapman and Andrew Miller before the trade deadline. One pitcher who has proven invaluable to manager Joe Girardi in the post-DMC era has been veteran southpaw Tommy Layne.
The 31-year-old reliever was released by the Boston Red Sox August 6th after they acquired Fernando Abad at the trade deadline. Layne had been solid for the Sox, with a 3.77 ERA and 7.8 K/9 through 28.2 innings of work, but it they seemed to believe they had found an upgrade in Abad.