One of the most important matters of business for the Yankees this offseason is on the way to being taken care of.
Pitching coach Matt Blake and the team are in the midst of negotiating a new contract and moving toward a deal, The Post’s Joel Sherman reported Friday, which would ensure that the Yankees hang on to one of the best at his job in the game.
Blake, who was working on an expiring deal this season, oversaw a pitching staff that led the majors with a 3.24 ERA despite dealing with key injuries to their rotation and a largely no-name bullpen.
That was the strength of the Yankees all season, and while it still culminated in an ALDS ouster against the Rays, retaining Blake was an essential move for Aaron Boone, who is also coming back for a 10th season as manager next year.
The Yankees originally hired Blake in 2020 with no major league experience, but he quickly squashed any concerns about that and earned the respect of his pitchers with his knowledge and easygoing demeanor. While they have plenty of well-paid pitchers in their rotation, the Yankees almost annually take relievers off the scrap heap and turn them into important contributors, largely a credit to Blake and the pitching group (this year made up of assistant pitching coach Desi Druschel, bullpen coach Preston Claiborne and director of pitching Sam Briend).
“I think he’s pretty damn good at his job,” Will Warren said of Blake late this season.
This year, which was Blake’s seventh on the job, the Yankees withstood injuries to Gerrit Cole, Max Fried, Carlos Rodón and Ryan Weathers in their rotation, in large part due to the emergence of ace and soon-to-be AL Cy Young winner Cam Schlittler.
In the bullpen, closer David Bednar was the only established reliever (aside from Camilo Doval, who was traded at the deadline as a rare exception of an arm the Yankees could not fix), but the unit still finished second in the majors with a 3.13 ERA.
“I would say if you told me the way the injuries were going to play out and maybe who the names were [in the bullpen], I’m not sure I would have guessed we would have led the league in ERA and be in the top three or four of a lot of the main peripherals,” Blake said during the ALDS. “But it’s not totally surprising when you see we got the best out of a lot of them and they picked each other up and we had a great culture in the group this year. It felt rewarding to show up to the field every day. I feel like they were invigorated in a lot of ways. The starters rallied around each other, the bullpen had a great dynamic, so it did feel like we had a strong, core group that carried us for the year.”
