Clay Holmes's Stats, Metrics, Game Logs, Projections & Rankings

New York Yankees relief pitcher Clay Holmes picked up his first save of September on Sunday, finishing off the Pittsburgh Pirates in a 6-4 win. Holmes struck out one in his inning of work and didn't allow a baserunner. The veteran righty was removed from the closer's role in mid-September after blowing multiple saves (13 on the year) and has been working in lower-leverage roles since. In this one, the Yanks used new closer Luke Weaver in the eighth inning in a tie game. The Yankees then took the lead in the bottom of the inning and went with Holmes for the save in the ninth. This could mark a return to high leverage for Holmes, who has been good since being removed from the closer's role. They have no reason to move away from Weaver as the closer, but Holmes could make for a good setup man in the postseason.

New York Yankees relief pitcher Clay Holmes could be losing his grip on save opportunities. Jack Curry of the YES Network reported that manager Aaron Boone expressed that the team will get "creative with the closer role in the short term." Boone further expressed that Holmes should continue to be in the mix. While fantasy managers should not expect Holmes to immediately shift to a low-leverage role, his position as the bona fide ninth-inning option is shifting for now. Holmes surrendered four earned runs on Tuesday evening in his third blown save in his past ten innings. While the Yankee skipper did not mention any direct names of those who could see ninth-inning duties, fantasy managers should expect Mark Leiter Jr. to get one of the first chances as he typically pitches in the eighth inning and is worth stashing in deeper leagues if you are lacking in saves.

New York Yankees closer Clay Holmes secured the save in Friday night's win over the visiting Colorado Rockies at Yankee Stadium, hurling a scoreless ninth inning with one strikeout. Holmes tends to go on an adventure now and again in save situations, but Friday night offered no such theatrics as he induced a fly ball to center field from Rockies outfielder Nolan Jones to seal the save for New York against Colorado. The 31-year-old right-hander remains the Yankees' go-to stopper despite the occasional implosion here and there, registering a 2.77 ERA and 1.29 WHIP with 60 strikeouts and 16 walks while converting just 27 of his 37 save opportunities over 52 innings this season.