[bamyanks]

Hi Brian,
There hasn't been a Yankee reliever that gave me the 'we're good, game over' confidence since Mariano retired, and even as great as Rivera was, he had his 'bumps in the road' moments, rare as they were.
Betances is a pretty amazing bullpen weapon as a set-up man, so there was obviously a good reason for Cashman to sign The Closers, Chapman and Miller last year and reacquire Chapman and trade for Robertson this year. There's a maturity/confidence equation with most Closers and Betances has a few more years to get to that level, IMO. He's a work in progress that will hopefully get better with time. Clippard on the other hand, had lost all confidence and didn't seem like it was worth the investment of time to restore that confidence. I think getting him to a non-contending team was a huge favor for Clippard. He can work in a 'fearless' situation and restore his mojo. He's got talent, no doubt, but I think that Betances had more confidence, skill and potential to eventually become 'The Closer' than Clippard.
Just my opinion.

I have no arguments with your views on Mariano. I have the same feeling, there is no one in the bullpen to equal him and I have doubts that we will find another for a while. Maybe I should put it, out of all the relievers there is no closer except Chapman (and to me that can be debatable. Betances, every time when I'm watching the game, seems to find something to muck up, and it seems to be getting worse as we go along. Yes, he has an awesome arm, but I think he's got a long way to go on the control issues. Plus, this time of the season, we don't have the luxury of getting him back to where he was the first of the year.