KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Luis Gil is a not-so-secret weapon that the Yankees can’t quite find the right time to deploy.
Because of scores and quirky scheduling, the Yankees did not use their second- or third-best pitcher over the course of the regular season during the first three games of the ALDS.
It’s not as if Gil was being saved for Thursday night’s potential clincher, either, because the ideal plan called for fully rested ace Gerrit Cole to work deep and hand off to some or all of Clay Holmes, Tommy Kahnle and Luke Weaver.
“I wish he would have pitched in the last [10 days],” manager Aaron Boone said. “But that’s the nature of this time of year. … He’s ready to go.”
It must sound like a rich man’s problem to the Mets, who survived 12 games in 13 days to advance to the NLCS.
The Mets’ overtaxed bullpen was rescued by David Peterson, who spun a seven-inning gem starting in a must-win on the supposed-to-be final day of the regular season, closed out Game 3 of the Wild Card Series, backed up an opener in Game 1 of the NLDS and set up Edwin Diaz’s save in Wednesday’s NLDS clincher.
Peterson, who went 10-3 with a 2.90 ERA in 121 regular-season innings, has not allowed an earned run in 13 ¹/₃ innings over those four appearances.
Meanwhile, Gil, who went 15-7 with a 3.50 ERA in 151 ²/₃ innings, hasn’t pitched since Sept. 28 because the Yankees had a first-round bye followed by off days after Games 1 and 2.
All that rest allowed Boone’s three trusted high-leverage relievers to pitch in each of the first three games and still be available for Game 4.
“You never know where the game takes you,” Boone said. “A guy you don’t expect could be in the biggest moments of the game, so we all have to be prepared for that. It’s all hands on deck in these games and you have to be ready for any role.”
Gil struggled with command in his last two regular-season starts and has never come out of the bullpen, but he would solve a potential issue of overexposure.
“When you’re playing the same team a lot, getting a lot of the same hitters,” Weaver said, “[for hitters] I would assume the more you see somebody, the easier it could be, in some way.”
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Once Boone made the decision to start Clarke Schmidt instead of Gil in Game 3 — a move that Schmidt validated with two runs allowed in 4 ²/₃ innings — Gil’s role was muddied.
Is he a long man?
He wasn’t when Carlos Rodon was knocked out early in Game 2.
Is he needed for a big late-game strikeout?
The bullpen only struck out one in 4 ¹/₃ scoreless innings in Game 3.
Or is he just biding time for a potential opportunity as a fourth starter in the ALCS?
“If it calls for him to be in the game,” Boone said, “so be it.”