The Yankees had almost daily reminders last season Mariano Rivera was heading into the sunset, with farewell gifts and ceremonies wherever the team traveled.
Now, though, the reality of life without Rivera is beginning to settle in, including to those who it’s going to impact most.
“It will be different with Mariano gone,” Shawn Kelley said Monday. “He shortened the game. With him and then David [Robertson] in the eighth, we knew everything was handled at the end of games.”
However the Yankees fill out their bullpen before the regular season, they won’t be able to replicate that duo. It may be up to Kelley to help fill the void, as the hard-throwing right-hander figures to be a candidate to replace Robertson in the eighth if Robertson lives up to expectations and becomes the closer.
“Last year, I got the ball in the sixth and seventh inning with the game on the line, so I’m used to pitching in meaningful situations,” Kelley said by phone from Tennessee. “We haven’t talked about where I’ll be. I’m sure we’ll navigate that as the spring goes on.”
He threw his first bullpen session Monday after spending Sunday in Albany, where he helped raise more than $2 million for the Center for Disability Services. The center provides support to more than 15,000 people — from newborns to seniors — and their families throughout upstate New York. It’s a cause Robertson and manager Joe Girardi have been involved with in the past through Wish You Were Here Productions.
“It was amazing to meet some of the kids that they were helping who were dealt an unfair hand,” Kelley said.
Kelley struck out 71 in 53 ¹/₃ innings and will be part of a bullpen that lost Boone Logan and Joba Chamberlain in addition to Rivera.
“I feel like I’ve earned Joe’s trust going into this year,” said Kelley, 29. “I think [lefty Matt] Thornton can fill in for Boone as a lefty and Preston [Claiborne] is only going to get better. And maybe we’ll pick up a piece by spring training.”
With Grant Balfour headed to the Rays, any piece the Yankees do acquire would likely be either by a trade (the Diamondbacks’ J.J. Putz is a possibility) or an injury reclamation project such as Joel Hanrahan, who is coming off elbow surgery.
Brian Roberts, slated to take over for Robinson Cano at second base, told the Baltimore Sun he can stay healthy despite being limited by injuries each of the last four years. Roberts injured his right hamstring the first week of the season, but stayed reasonably healthy after returning at the end of June.
“When I came back, though it took me a little bit to get going,” Roberts said. “In the last part of the year I felt like I started to really feel confident in my abilities again.”