We are now about
a quarter of the way through the season so it’s time to take a look at the
volatile and often annoying world of closers. Jason Isringhausen and Eric
Gagne hit the skids over the weekend and are now in the dreaded “middle
relief” role. Since the start of the year, we now have six well established
closers who have “temporarily” lost their jobs due to poor performance or
injury — the other four being Manny Corpas, Rafael Soriano, Chad Cordero,
and Joe Borowski.
The list above
represents one-fifth of the major league closers. While there are a couple of
guys who’ll get a second chance. I don’t expect too many of these closers to
finish the year back in the 9th inning role. Soriano’s going to lose the job to
John Smoltz; I’d be surprised if
Cordero pitches at all the rest of the season; and Brian Fuentes has been great as the closer, so there’s no telling
if Corpas will get the job back. On the other hand, I do expect Borowski to be
back, as Rafael Betancourt hasn’t
been “lights out” with the job and Eric Wedge seems to like him better in the
setup role anyway. That being said, don’t go paying full price for Borowski;
his arsenal still stinks and he’ll probably lose the job for a second time —
this time without the excuse of an injury.
Meanwhile, both Isringhausen
and Gagne recently requested for temporary demotions — but of the two, only
Izzy has a real chance of working out his mechanics and notching another 30-save
season. Supposedly, his recent poor performance simply stems from a mechanical
flaw in the way he throws his slider. Gagne, however, is a different story. It
didn’t take too long for him to realize that it was a mistake to publically admit
that he shouldn’t be the closer, as he’s already declared himself fit to close
again after just two days. Seriously? It only takes two days to fix five blown
saves a half season of sucktitude
with the Red Sox?
And for those
people banking on Salomon Torres to get the majority of the saves while the 9th
inning is up for grabs — I’m sorry, but you and the majority of the ESPN
analysts are wrong. Torres is a better pitcher coming in as a setup man with
men on base, and the Brewers know that. Plus, has it really been so long that
people have forgotten how Pirates fans were up in arms about the fact that
Torres was still the closer instead of guy names Capps? If choosing between Torres and Guillermo Mota, go Mota.
A couple of
older closers could also be on the brink of being gone. Todd Jones has a 4.50 ERA and a 1.50 WHIP. Trevor Hoffman has pitched better recently but still has a 5.91 ERA
and 1.50 WHIP. If both teams continue to struggle, a switch could be made.
However, with the Tigers’ current dearth of pitching, a change doesn’t seem
imminent. The Padres have Heath Bell
ready to go, but Hoffman and his shoo-in Hall of Fame status will have to get
injured or struggle mightily for a bit longer to lose the job.
Two other
closers to keep an eye on: Kerry Wood and
J.J. Putz. Wood has been up and down
this season and blown three saves. Meanwhile, heir apparent Carlos Marmol has been lights out with
a 1.12 ERA, a 0.67 WHIP, and a better
than 4:1 K/BB rate. Putz has a 5.62 ERA and 2.25 WHIP and has walked more than
he’s struck out since his return. Could Brandon
Morrow be next in line? Probably not, but don’t discount it completely.
If you own
closers that are not listed above, consider yourself lucky. They are the ones
that are established, have pitched well, and aren’t in danger of losing their
jobs. If you need a closer, keep an eye on the situations above and look to
pick up the guys who could slide into the job — Ryan Franklin and Mota currently
lead the list.
Elsewhere...
* Adam
LaRoche is off to
another horrendous start this year — .207/.299/.339, 4 HR, 13 RBI. This comes
on the heels of a 2007 campaign where he went .223/.311/.399 in the first three
months. He ended up with respectable numbers last year, but now that he’s
getting full playing time he has to produce more consistently.
* Nine more scoreless innings for Cliff Lee. He actually saw his WHIP
rise to 0.67 after allowing a whopping nine base runners in those nine innings.
He’s now allowed runs in only two of his starts.
* Matt
Garza threw seven
scoreless innings and has now dropped his ERA to 3.86. After allowing eight
runs in his first eight innings he hasn’t allowed more than three in his other
four starts. He’s walked as many as he’s struck out so don’t get too excited
about him, but he could be spot-start worthy.
* Zach
Duke won his second
straight start by throwing six scoreless innings yesterday. In the process he
lowered his ERA to 4.04 but raised his WHIP to 1.61 thanks to five walks and
five hits. On the year he’s got more walks than strikeouts making him a
disaster-in-waiting.
* Dan
Uggla went 2-for-3
with another homer, his 12th of the year. He’s slugging at .652 and proving
many wrong who thought he’d decline this year.
* Again Fausto Carmona pitched a strong game — complete game shutout — and
I remain concerned. Today’s performance can’t be discounted, but he still had
more walks than K’s continuing a trend he’s shown all year. He has twice as
many walks as strikeouts and his WHIP is 1.64. If you have him, sell high while
you can.
* Consistency, thy name is Roy Oswalt. Oswalt has pitched five
consecutive games in which he’s allowed three earned runs. In each of those
starts he’s allowed five or six hits and struck out at least five. He still has
a high 5.05 ERA and a relatively high 1.37 WHIP, but he’s striking guys out —
7.58 K/9 — and has only walked 15 batters. If an owner is looking to ditch him,
go ahead and grab him.
* Ryan
Braun went 2-for-3
with two more home runs and now has four in his last two games. After a slow
start he’s picking up the pace across the board — .288/.321/.545 and dispelling
any thoughts of a sophomore slump.
* Guillermo
Mota picked up his
first save after Mitch Stetter
walked in a run to make it an 8-3 lead for the Brewers. Mota only had to retire
one batter to get the rare “leading by five runs” save but struck out Rick Ankeil to do it. Eric
Gagne did pitch a couple of innings allowing a run and two walks in the
process.
* Scott
Downs picked up his
fourth save of the year, but it was only because B.J. Ryan pitched the ninth of a scoreless game. Looks like the
Jays aren’t backing down from their “no multiple innings” strategy with Ryan.
He only threw seven pitches in the ninth but didn’t come back out for the tenth.
* Rafael
Furcal is headed
for the DL with a back strain. Rookie Chin-Lung
Hu will take his place but doesn’t have anywhere near the offensive skill
of Furcal.
* After Monday’s MRI, Alex Rodriguez is expected to miss at
least another week with his quad injury. Keep him benched in all weekly leagues
for this period.
Spot-start
candidates:
Jason Marquis
vs. San Diego. Marquis has a 3.47 ERA in 36.1 career IP against the Padres.
Avoid:
John Maine
vs. Washington. Maine has a 4.84 career ERA in 44.2 IP against the Nats.
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