Green said last week that he doesn't expect to see much use as an opener in 2020 and plans to fill a more traditional relief role, Bryan Hoch of MLB.com reports. "Opening was a little bit out of necessity last year, but we've got some guys that are going to step up and pitch some big innings," Green said.
The Yankees will likely be without James Paxton (back) for at least the first two months of the season, but the offseason addition of staff ace Gerrit Cole along with Jordan Montgomery's return to full strength after missing much of 2019 while recovering from Tommy John surgery leaves New York's rotation in a better spot compared to a year ago. As a result, Green shouldn't be required to work regularly as an opener, a role he filled 15 times last season. Green wasn't demonstrably better as an opener (3.72 ERA, .333 wOBA in 19.1 innings) than he was while working out of the bullpen (4.35 ERA, .302 wOBA in 49.2 innings), so the organization isn't overly incentivized to go back to using him at the beginning of games.