Late '70s. The Yankees had Sparky Lyle and Goose Gossage in the same bullpen ...

I guess acquiring Gossage in 1978 because the Cy Young Award winner in the bullpen wasn't enough.

Ron Davis setting up Gossage. 131 innings in 1980.

Moving Rookie of the Year Dave Righetti to the bullpen.

Mariano setting up Wetteland.

The Mendoza-Stanton-Nelson "bridge" to Mariano.

Betances setting up Robertson:

"There has never been a single offseason that I can remember when the Yankees weren’t declared world beaters after they started making moves.

I like the signing of Andrew Miller, and it made perfect sense for them, especially not knowing whether or not David Robertson is coming back.

But I was a little confused, tracking the giddy reaction to Miller’s signing, as to how I could possibly have missed the obvious comparisons between him and Mariano Rivera.

Not so long after the Yanks were going to be world beaters because of the longball, now they are selling something new:

The first all-bullpen team in Yankee history!"

Nice addition of a setup man that no one is particularly excited about.

Zero people have compared Miller to Mariano and very few people think the Yankees are world beaters.

So, once again, Lupica is creating an imaginary, defenseless opponent and then intellectually defeating that opponent like a Big Man with a typewriter.

The Miller signing continues the Yankees' decade-long obsession with a strong bullpen. Every hack writer seems to have conveniently forgotten.