With lefties Phil Coke and Michael Dunn heading to Detroit and Atlanta, respectively, righties Mark Melancon and Kevin Whelan will be given chances to fill bullpen spots in spring training.

If they can accomplish that, and lefty Damaso Marte is healthy and flashes the form he did in the postseason – and fellow southpaw Boone Logan, who is just 5-5, 5.78 in 164 big-league appearances with the White Sox and Braves, can prove useful – all might be well in Yankees Universe.

Otherwise, that bridge to whomever is the eighth-inning specialist and Mariano Rivera could be shaky. Righty Alfredo Aceves, who was 10-1, 3.54 in 42 appearances out of the bullpen, emerged as a solid long reliever in 2009.

Righties Jonathan Albaladejo and Edwar Ramirez have not been consistent.  Righty David Robertson has shown flashes.

The bullpen is an area that always seems to have something of a different mix each season.  Even though there are bodies with potential a month from spring training, the pressure to perform this season is on both Melancon and Whelan.

Melancon, who mixed his 0-1, 3.86 performance with the Yankees with a 4-0, 2.89, three-save effort in 32 games at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, appears poised to claim his spot.  He made his big-league debut April 26, went back to Scranton May 9 and joined the Yankees for good July 9.

Remember, thanks to a pair of elbow injuries, the second requiring Tommy John surgery, he was limited to just eight innings before the 2008 season.

But the Arizona product put himself back on the map with a superlative 2008, recording an 8-1 mark with a trio of saves during stops at Class-A Advanced Tampa, Double-A Trenton, where he was 6-0, .181 in 19 appearances, registering a strikeout/walk ratio of 47-12 and limiting Eastern League hitters to a .183 average, and Scranton.

With Scranton in 2009, his strikeout/walk ratio was 54-11, with the Yankees it was just 10-10. Perhaps it was an inability to relax. Perhaps it was the normal adjustment period to big-league hitters.

Melancon’s control in the upper minors was always consistent. While his fastball can hit 95 mph, he can dominate hitters with a hard curve that he can place in the strike zone or sink. His changeup is also improving.

This could easily be Melancon’s breakout season.

Whelan, who came to the Yankees in the November 2007 Gary Sheffield trade with reliever Anthony Claggett (now with Pittsburgh) and  Humberto Sanchez (oft-injured), had an excellent 2009 season with Trenton (4-0, 2.63 in 30 games) and Scranton (0-0, 2.84 in 14 games).

It was the first season, since he was with the Yankees system, that he was totally healthy. Control issues had held him back before, but his combined strikeout/walk ratio in 2009 was 85-41. When Whelan throws strikes – and has his velocity up to 94 mph on his fastball and can place his outstanding splitter – he can dominate hitters.

The Yankees were happy with his progress in 2009. He needs to show more of such and contribute in 2010.

Jed spent 35 years in the newspaper business working as both a writer and editor, in both sports and news under tight deadline pressure. As both sports editor at the Indiana (Pa.) Gazette and a copy editor/columnist at The Times of Trenton, he made daily decisions on overall coverage and designed and produced thousands of pages and special sections. Since accepting a buyout from The Times, he has concentrated on broadening his writing and editing horizons to the medical, academic and business fields. Anyone is welcome to Google Jed to see the different places in print, on the Web and in front of the camera his professional expertise has spread to.

Jed Weisberger

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Tags: Alfredo Aceves, Anthony Claggett, Boone Logan, Damaso Marte, David Robertson, Edwar Ramirez, Gary Sheffield, Humberto Sanchez, Jonathan Albaladejo, Kevin Whelan, Mariano Rivera, Mark Melancon, Michael Dunn, New York Yankees, Phil Coke, Yankees Bullpen