The New York Yankees led against the Minnesota Twins for almost the entire game until Albert Abreu gave up five runs. These five runs came in the final two innings of the Spring Training game and resulted in a finals score of 6-4 for the Twins.
While it may just be a Spring Training matchup, seeing a blown save like this from Albert Abreu has infuriated Yankees fans.
Abreu achieved an ERA of 3.26 across 33 games in 2022 and is looking to become a key piece of the New York Yankees bullpen. Considering it is not a position of great strength for the team, fans were hopeful he could improve on last season.
Perhaps even to become the team's closer. Those hopes have been dashed before a regular season game has even been played. Talkin' Yanks on Twitter shared the terrible statistics from Albert Abreu's outing.
Abreu started his career with the Yankees in 2020, but has bounced around MLB. He played for the Texas Rangers and Kansas City Royals in 2022, before returning to the Yankees later that season.
New York Yankees fans were hopeful that added experience from around the league could help mold him. This blown save in Spring Training has many at the end of their rope.
The New York Yankees bullpen is an area of the team that desperately needs to improve. They have excellent starting pitchers and the potential to have a great offense, but their bullpen is lacking. It will likely be the main source of consternation for the fanbase if they do not make marked improvements.
It is usually unwise to infer too much from a single Spring Training game, but this certainly doesn't help Albert Abreu. If he can't close out a meaningless game, how will he perform when the stakes are raised?
Questions like these will now loom over team discussions about his place on the roster.
The Minnesota Twins got the win against the Yankees and exposed a weakness on their team.
Can the New York Yankees win a championship with a sub-par bullpen?
Teams that are usually able to win it all do so because they are complete in every sense of the word. Having a position group that is a clear weakness would be a massive hurdle to overcome.
However, for a team with stars like Gerrit Cole and Aaron Judge, they may be able to get hot at the right time and cover up any weaknesses.