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Brian Bruney has returned from an elbow injury, giving the Yankees a reliable setup man and saving the non-Mariano Rivera members of the bullpen from ignominy that will surely come with overexposure. Or so the logic goes.

He hasn't pitched in many memorable spots yet, but David Robertson is quietly having an excellent year. His sample size is a mere 12 innings, but those are a continuation of what the right-hander showed in 30 1/3 innings after a callup in 2008. He's averaging 11.5 strikeouts per nine innings and 2.45 strikeouts for every walk. After a rough start -- he walked four in his first four appearances -- Robertson has been outstanding. In his last 10 games, he has struck out 11 and walked only three. He hasn't allowed a home run this season.

Whenever talk turns to moving Joba Chamberlain or Phil Hughes to the bullpen, smart people argue that uncovering relievers is much easier than finding starters. Robertson is a perfect example of that. Here's a 17th-round draft pick from 2006 who found his way to the Major Leagues two years later and has done nothing but strike people out at every level along the way.

Robertson's walks are a little suspect -- 4.7 per nine innings as a Major Leaguer; 3.6 as a Minor Leaguer -- but he makes up for that by keeping the ball in the yard. Robertson has thrown 200 2/3 innings as a professional and allowed four home runs. Three of them came last season as he got his feet wet with the big club.

The Yankees' (lack of) use of Robertson has done him -- and the team -- a disservice. His first six appearances came as the final man out of the bullpen in losses, and almost all of those games weren't close. The next two times Robertson got in a game, he was entrusted with six-run leads in Texas and then in Cleveland on May 30. His most visible game of the year came the day after that game against the Indians. Robertson relieved Phil Coke in the ninth inning and promptly issued a walk and then allowed the game-winning single.

If manager Joe Girardi is allowing that game to affect his usage of Robertson, he shouldn't. But Robertson didn't see many high-leverage situations after that, either. He finished a loss at home to Texas and then managed to get in the eighth inning of a tie game after a trademark Chien-Ming Wang explosion emptied the bullpen. After that, Robertson pitched in last week's 7-0 loss at Boston and entered Friday's wacky game against the Mets -- but only after Brett Tomko tried his best to rob it of its drama. His most recent appearance came while protecting a 15-run lead in Sunday's rout of the Mets.

Robertson entered Wednesday's game with the second-best FIP on the team. The only Yankees pitcher who has seen fewer important innings is shiny new Pirate Steven Jackson, who was on the roster from April 19 through May 8 but didn't even get in a game.

For all the Bruney-as-savior talk, what exactly is the reliever hanging his hat on? His 2008 (34 1/3 innings pitched, 16 walks) was the first season in his career in which he walked fewer than six (!) batters per nine innings. (That still comes out to 4.2 walks per nine innings -- read: not great.) He is in better shape and has obviously improved over his previous incarnation, but Bruney is far from a mortal lock to be a shutdown reliever.

With time, Girardi may learn to trust Robertson more. The manager did not hesitate to use younger, unproven relievers last year, when the Yankees' bullpen was among the tops in the Majors. This year, Girardi tried out some of last season's favorites -- Edwar Ramirez among them -- and, then they failed, turned to the likes of Alfredo Aceves (not a huge problem) and Tomko (huge problem).

Like Bruney, Robertson isn't a lock to do well. If given bigger opportunities, the 24-year-old could struggle. But he's pitching too well now not to earn the chance. The Yankees' bullpen has improved, and Robertson has been too big a part of that revival to be relegated to ugly-duckling status.

Wrong move: When Bruney came off the disabled list Tuesday, the Yankees designated Jose Veras for assignment. Now, Veras had been awful this year, but he was serviceable last year and is still worlds better than Tomko, who hasn't been average since 2004.

If the Yankees don't find a trade partner to take Veras, they will lose him to a waiver claim. This decision, thanks in part to Veras' homer rate and walk rate, will probably not come back to haunt the Yankees. But it's still a mistake. Put it this way: Tomko would have found his way through waivers.